Our Staff

Irene C McFarlane Chief Executive Officer

Irene was appointed as Chief Executive Officer in July 2015 and has over 34 years’ experience working in social housing.

She is responsible for implementing the strategy agreed by the Committee and working with our Executive and Senior Leadership team to ensure we deliver our objectives/plans and comply with all relevant legislation and the standards set by the Scottish Housing Regulator.  

Irene is committed to changing and improving the way we do things at Linthouse, to delivering much needed investment in our housing stock, customer experience of our service and securing value for money in all that we do.  Irene is passionate about working in partnership with others to attract resources into our area to ensure that the people and communities we are here to serve are well supported and connected into other services which compliments LHAs mission of creating strong urban communities that people want to live and work in.  Irene is a member of the Chartered Institute of Housing and her qualifications include a BA in Social Administration, a Diploma in Housing Studies and a Master’s in Business Administration. The CEO reports direct to the Chairperson of LHA.

Andrea Walker Director of Housing & Community Empowerment

Andrea joined the Association in September 2016 as Customer Services Manager.  She has over 30 years of experience in the social housing sector and is a member of the Chartered Institute of Housing; her qualifications include the postgraduate Diploma in Housing from Glasgow University.

In July 2019 Andrea moved into a new role of Head of Customer Service to manage customer services delivery in all our areas by our Customer Service Officers and Assistants.  This new role was created to facilitate continuous improvements to service delivery.  Andrea was promoted to the post of Head of Customer Services (now Housing and Community Engagement) in August 2019. She heads up the Housing and Community Engagement Team and tenant involvement for the Association.

Craig Douglas Head Of Property and Estate Services

Craig worked in the maintenance department of his last association for over 12 years before taking the role of Technical Services Manager at Linthouse HA. In that time, he gained his membership to the institute of Clerk of Works and building inspectorate. He has worked on various new build projects both domestic and commercial as well as on day-to-day maintenance issues.

At his last association he was heavily involved with the modernisation of its 800 properties. These works included both internal and external modernisation. The experience gained over these years along with the many years he worked in construction prior to joining the housing sector has put him in good standing to fulfil his role as technical services manager and will help us deliver our goal to invest in modernising Linthouse HA stock and deliver high quality responsive repairs service to customers.

Derek Rainey Head of Property and Asset 

Derek graduated from the University of Strathclyde with a BA (Hons) in Finance and Marketing and is a part qualified accountant.  He started work with Linthouse Housing Association in November 1996 as a graduate trainee within the maintenance department. As his passion for social housing grew, he moved to work within the finance department as a Finance Assistant before becoming Finance Officer, a post he occupied for many years.
In late 2018 an exciting opportunity for promotion arose within our newly formed Asset Management team. Derek applied for it and was appointed to the new post of Asset Manager.  

Derek’s knowledge of our IT systems, processes and over 20 years’ experience of working at the Association will help us to achieve our goal of investing wisely in our housing stock.  As both Asset Manager and a member of the Senior Leadership Team Derek hopes to help contribute to and shape an exciting future for Linthouse in the years to come!