Alan commenced his career in 1974 starting as an apprentice Chartered Quantity Surveyor, having qualified as an Associate and progressing to Fellow of The Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors status.

He has had a particularly progressive career, holding senior positions in both the public and private sector.

Key achievements include establishing Tilbury Douglas Partnership Homes. In this role he was highly successful, and this business success attracted the purchase of Tilbury Douglas Homes by Persimmon plc in 2000.

Alan was appointed Managing Director of Persimmon Partnerships (Scotland) which became a separate operating division of the Persimmon group in 2001. In the six subsequent years the business grew, from a standing start, to become one of the largest residential developers in Scotland. During this time the business achieved positive profit growth of circa 900% and built and sold over 400 houses in 2006. The business at that time was considered to be the market leader in mixed tenure partnership housing in Scotland.