people
bloc has market leading expertise in Development, Corporate Project Delivery, Company Corporate Structuring, Project and Corporate Financial Management, Development Agreements, Development Management, Planning, and Project Management.
We asked our partners and clients to describe bloc’s people and the printable feedback included:
- trustworthy
- modest
- empathetic
- experienced
- transparent
- tenacious
- no ego
- professional
- accountable
- entrepreneurial
- proactive
- innovative
Richard Thomas
CEO H2O and Development Director
Richard joined bloc in 2008 from mixed use development company Dandara having also formally worked for Westbury Homes in their special projects team. Richard has over 20 years of experience working in the private sector development industry and with public sector partners. Richard has delivered a number of successful bloc projects in all market sectors including an industrial scheme in Birmingham for Ropemaker, a purpose built student housing project for Legal and General and is currently managing a scheme of 348 no. Build to Rent apartments in Nottingham for Grainger. He has particular expertise in setting up pre let and funded structures for development projects.
Richard has a degree in Civil Engineering and has also completed an MBA via the College of Estate Management.
Richard Page
CEO bloc and Founder
Richard is a Chartered Surveyor with a Masters in Business Administration and an Architectural Technology Degree. He has 32 years of experience in client side property development and has undertaken mixed use and single sector projects covering industrial, office, residential, retail, leisure and period properties UK wide. His development track record exceeds £1 billion in value.
Prior to bloc Richard worked for the Valuation Office and development companies including Capital and Counties plc, Miller Developments and Lynton plc (BAA plc). Richard has also set up tax efficient SPVs (single purpose vehicles) and has been a director of both pub and restaurant businesses. Having set up bloc in 1997 with Nicola Tindale, Richard has concentrated on formalising relationships with key partners to take forward the bloc development partnership niche.
Following on from the successful multi-award winning Edinburgh Quay project, ongoing joint ventures have been set up with the Canal and River Trust (British Waterways), Scottish Enterprise, Hanover Housing and Network Rail.
Nicholas Legget
Development Director
Nicholas joined bloc in June 2022 from residential development company Mulbury. His previous role covered Development Director for Mulbury City, a specialist division of the group, that focused on the delivery of high-quality city centre residential schemes, working with private and institutional investors in the UK and overseas. Prior to that, Nicholas held a number of senior Development roles at Countryside Properties PLC.
Nicholas qualified with a degree in Building Surveying and has over 15 years of experience working in the private sector development industry, both with private and public sector stakeholders. Nicholas works in all market sectors with particular expertise in the BTR/ PRS residential markets, and regeneration master-planning.
Scott Simpson
Projects Director
Scott was originally trained as a Quantity Surveyor and worked in the Construction Industry for 25 years.
He worked for Turner and Townsend Cost Consultants for seven years before moving into main contracting – working for major national and multi-national contractors. He has also worked in housebuilding for the Dandara Group delivering large scale projects, and for a small trading property development business.
Scott’s experience is practical and widespread and therefore perfectly fits the bloc portfolio.
Vicky Jacob
Finance Director
Vicky qualified as a Chartered Accountant with PriceWaterhouseCoopers and has through the course of her career, increasingly focussed on property matters with a particular specialism in property joint ventures. Previously Vicky was Senior Finance Manager for British Waterways (latterly Canal and River Trust) joint venture businesses and also worked for Intu Properties.
Iryna Dorosh
Accounts Assistant
Iryna joined bloc group in 2017, bringing over 15 years of bookkeeping experience in the property and construction sectors with Chard Estate Agents, Cameron Black Ltd and Volute London Ltd.
Edwina Smith
Office Manager
Edwina started working in the property sector as a secretary at the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors, in both the Communications and then the Quantity Surveying departments. She then worked for DTZ in both their London and Manchester offices, as a PA to Directors for the Investment and Professional departments.
Edwina works flexibly both from home and in the bloc office in Fitzrovia. With the different joint venture partnerships at bloc she enjoys the diversity of challenges, roles and people that each of these JVs bring. She has worked for bloc for 13 years.
Nicola Tindale
Non-Executive Director
Nicola is a Chartered Surveyor and previous roles/employers include development agency, Greycoat plc and Lynton plc. She is a specialist in multi-sector development with an office and residential bias and has 32 years of property experience. Nicola co-founded bloc in 1997.
Nicola sits on the bloc, blocwork and H20 Boards.
James Macleod
Director
James leads on Buccleuch Property’s finances which involves oversight of the entire business, funding of projects through a number of key banking relationships, treasury management, corporate and joint venture arrangements together with statutory and management reporting. A qualified Chartered Accountant with a law degree, James relocated to Edinburgh from London after completing his accountancy training with Arthur Andersen, and has over 20 years’ experience in the commercial property industry. He worked with Miller Developments before joining Buccleuch Property in 2006.
David Peck
Chairman
David has overall responsibility for managing Buccleuch Property and implementing its business plan via its extensive investment and development portfolio and through a growing network of joint venture partnerships. A Chartered Surveyor with over 30 years’ experience, David trained in London with Drivers Jonas and Taylor Woodrow Capital Developments before moving north to become development director for Kilmartin Property Group. He joined Buccleuch Property in 2003 to grow and diversify the business. He is also a non-executive director of Native Land, a Trustee of the charity Projekt 42 and a former chair of the Scottish Property Federation.
Sandy Smith
Director
Sandy is responsible for the strategy and implementation of the Group’s commercial property development activities. He has a proven track record of working in joint ventures and creating strong relationships with public and private sector organisations. As a qualified Chartered Surveyor, he has over 25 years’ experience within the sector. He was Managing Director of Sheffield City Airport and Business Park as well as a director at the Kilmartin Property Group before joining Buccleuch Property in 2005.
Neil Finnie
Director
Neil joined Buccleuch Property in 2017 to focus on expanding the development portfolio through strategic acquisitions and direct development on existing land holdings. A Chartered Surveyor with over 15 years’ experience, Neil previously worked for Miller Developments having started his career in the Edinburgh office of Jones Lang LaSalle.