James Kirkwood

Development Manager, AWG Property

James Kirkwood's job as development manager with AWG Property in Glasgow entails scouting out potential sites for building and using his skills as a qualified planner to work out how to turn opportunities into reality.

Kirkwood graduated in environmental planning from the University of Strathclyde in 2000. He joined AWG two years ago after working with three other Scottish house builders. "We identify sites for development, then project manage them through the planning system," he explains. "We co-ordinate land purchases and put together a team to see through the development ."

He sees developers as being in the front line of the government's neighbourhood renewal agenda. "We deliver the regeneration through the planning system, but we find opportunities for development,"

he says. Developers are in the position occupied by planners in the 1960s, he argues: "We are the ones doing the masterplanning and looking at growth areas." Kirkwood says "doing deals" is his favourite part of the job. "We are using our skills as planners to identify opportunities, then approaching landowners, negotiating with them and coming up with strategies that will work," he says.