An Ayrshire housebuilder has been named business of the year in the Scottish Women’s Awards 2023. Dalry-based McTaggart Construction, which is led by managing director Janice Russell, won the accolade after doubling its annual turnover to more than £90m in slightly more than five years.
Ms Russell said: “To even be nominated alongside so many fantastic women was an honour but to actually win was one of the proudest moments of my life.
“The amazing success stories of all the winners and nominees, and their achievements across so many aspects of Scottish life, are an inspiration to all women. There is no limit to what we can achieve when we support and empower each other.”
READ MORE: Denial after denial from brass-necked Tory arch-Brexiter
Ms Russell, who was recently appointed to the board of industry body Homes for Scotland, added: “The construction industry has given me a platform to grow both as an individual and as a professional.
“I’m incredibly lucky to work for a senior management team, board, staff and business partners who judge you on your ability to deliver - not your gender.”
READ MORE: Ian McConnell: This humiliation for Brexiters is surely good for everyone else
The winners of the Scottish Women’s Awards 2023, organised by Oceanic Events, were announced at a ceremony at the Glasgow Marriott Hotel.
Willis McTaggart founded the Dalry-based construction business with brother George in 1946.
From humble beginnings, the brothers embarked on several entrepreneurial ventures, with the then G&W McTaggart engaged in general building and haulage and various community services.
READ MORE: Ian McConnell: Household energy bill misery as Tories fail to act
The brothers built their first house in 1950 - a semi-detached property on Templand Crescent in Dalry which is the location of the current head office.
McTaggart Construction announced in February that chartered surveyor Ms Russell has been promoted to managing director.
The firm had by that stage more than doubled its employee and sub-contractor numbers to around 500 in the space of five years.
Ms Russell was already a director of McTaggart Construction, having been with the company for about 12 years. The chartered surveyor and project manager has more than 30 years of experience within property and construction, and has specialised in housing.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here