Meet Dr Marie Macklin CBE, Keynote Speaker at #PIPbyWiP

As we head towards my keynote speech in Edinburgh this November at The Women in Property  ‘The People-Innovation-Place Summit’, I take this time to congratulate all the Women in Property Committee for staging such a prestigious event and the amazing delegates attending this summit for all that you do for our sector and our great country.

I have always admired the work that ‘Women in Property’ have championed across the U.K. to create opportunities, expand knowledge and inspire positive change for all working in the property and the construction industry. Although much has changed for the better, I’m sure we can all agree that more needs to be done to encourage women to choose a career in the property sector and remain in the sector.

The construction and property sector has created challenges and obstacles for me over the years - yet provided so many rewards and achievements, both from a personal and professional perspective.

With deep roots in the construction industry, initiated by my dad who was a builder and worked hard to scale his business into a successful construction company , it was through listening and learning from to him that I gained the skills, knowledge and insight into an industry that would become a core part of my career and future.

Whilst working in London progressing with my career in financial services at the Royal Bank of Scotland, I abruptly had to return home due to a health scare caused by endometriosis. Although an unexpected career change, this led to me buying out transforming the family business, the Klin Group, followed by founding Macklin Enterprise Partnerships- Investment Company and founding the HALO Urban Regeneration Company.

I was now fully immersed in the construction world.

Community driven Urban Regeneration and brownfield development have always been of significant interest to me and as Managing Director of the Klin Group we would always explore opportunities in areas where we could have positive impact for the community for an aspirational perspective and aesthetic to re-imagine areas that without intervention would have been left behind. In category B listed buildings like Barclay House, The Opera House and the Diageo/Johnnie Walker land, (where HALO is located) are examples of regeneration that has transformed parts of my hometown Kilmarnock. I have worked in many economic challenging areas like Glasgow’s East End, Barrhead, Renfrew, Paisley and Belfast to name a few. And there is one thing they all have in common – they are communities with huge beating hearts of ‘Hope’.

Talking about ‘Hope’ leads me to remembering 2009 and the Diageo exit when they started to close down their 35-acre town centre brownfield site in Kilmarnock , This was the final nail in the coffin for my hometown, with 700 job losses in our bottling plant , the home of the iconic Johnnie Walker Whisky.

Having seen the demise of my town and many others like it, it was a turning point in my life when I stepped forward with my team to start negotiating with Diageo to gain control of the site. My passion was to create a new vision and new jobs for Kilmarnock and Scotland.

From 2009, through public consultation and by bringing my community together, I worked with my team to develop the unique ‘HALO’ development masterplan – Live, Work, Learn, Play – for the former Diageo site in Kilmarnock. The motivation and aim of this were to transform the site into a blueprint for sustainable regeneration and provide short-and long-term economic prosperity for the West Coast of Scotland, an area that is still in the shadow of the demise of mining, manufacturing and heavy industry.

There are three phases to HALO including the HALO Enterprise and Innovation Centre, a 49, 000sq ft Commercial hub, for PLC UK’s and international tenants. The HALO#Rockme Accelerator for SME’s and the Net Zero growth programme. This is accompanied with 210 sustainable homes, light manufacturing and urban park.

Phase one of the development opened in April 2022 and the multifaceted regeneration of the 28-acre former Johnnie Walker site, is on track to generate over £200million in GDP and 1500 jobs. HALO has welcomed a vast influx of praise, recognition of best practice, and multiple visits from high profile national and international policy makers eager to know more about the multi award winning HALO concept and its economic impact.

As a test bed 28-acre site for emerging green tech and one of the most sustainable buildings in the UK, The HALO Enterprise and Innovation Centre is 7 years ahead of the Paris 2015 Climate Agreement target as monitored by our technology and confirmed by our annual monitoring reports from Strathclyde University. HALO provides visitors and guests with a suite of sustainable and innovative infrastructure from 175 solar panels, Battery Storage, EV Charging, BREEAM Excellent rated, to Platinum Wired Score Wi-Fi, and is the only platinum operational site in Scotland.

In its short life the building has been:

• BCO UK Corporate Workplace of the Year 2022
• Finalist in the ‘Commercial, Industrial, Infrastructure & Retail’ category of the Glasgow Institute of Architects (GIA) Design Awards 2021.
• Best Regeneration Project at the Scottish Property Awards 2022.
• Featured in RIBA, (Royal Institute of British Architecture) “Reworking the Workplace.” Book publication 2023.

The HALO Enterprise and Innovation Centre is at the forefront of sustainability:

• Powered By 60000Kilowatt Solar panels 140 in total.
• 50-Kilowatt battery Storage
• EV Bus, Cars and Bikes Hub
• Test bed site for Iberdrola and Scottish Power
• Net Zero Green Accelerator for Green Businesses

We now have a proof of concept that you can take a market failure town and regenerate the area to create higher income generating employment at the forefront of the 4th industrial revolution, driven from an award winning commercial sustainable building and manufacturing park. This then attracts enterprises that would normally be based in a large city. Then follows the ‘Live’ concept,  with people wanting to move into the HALO Urban sustainable homes – followed by the ‘Play’ part in the Urban Park.

When it comes to the ‘Learn’ dimension, we partner with local schools and Ayrshire College and Universities on sustainable courses for our young people. We therefore tick the four areas of true urban regeneration. I believe in bottom-up economic growth and providing a voice for the community.

As I say, ‘Let the People Sing Again’.

My HALO brand is now ready to be rolled out across the UK and globally, with key partners from all corners of the world including USA, where I am looking forward to visiting in early 2025 with my team, spreading the HALO light of Hope.

As I look back at my life working in the City of London and then in Scotland my career was supported by men who believed in me and gave me the chance to aspire which I grabbed with both hands. I will always be grateful to those men, especially Alec Bradley, Martin Morran and Colin Liddell as they let me be heard and gave me the chances. I have faced many challenges and have taken big risks at times, but always calculated and sensible ones.

What I’ve learned most about the financial sector and our property industry is that we women belong in it. We have, can and should be part of the conversation and not feel we have no voice and or place to be seen and heard.

Only by supporting each other and giving our young women a chance will we create the most sustainable economy for our children’s children.

I look forward to being in Edinburgh as keynote speaker on the 14th of November at ‘Women In Property  ‘The People-Innovation-Place Summit’ where I’ll pick up and share more of my thoughts in some of the themes highlighted within this blog.

Best Wishes

Marie