Company Profile

Geoff Ball was born and brought up in Bristol where he qualified as a Chartered Accountant. After holding accounting positions in various industries until 1974 he acquired, with some associates, a controlling interest in the City of Aberdeen Land Association Limited, a listed feu-duty company. A residential development subsidiary, CALA Homes Limited, commenced development in Aberdeen in 1975. He has been Chief Executive since 1974 since when turnover has grown from zero to £300m.

The company now has six housebuilding subsidiaries - in East, West and North Scotland, the South East of England, the West Midlands and Yorkshire - plus commercial property development and finance subsidiaries. CALA Homes specialises in the development of lower density executive housing and quality flats and its designs have won many awards.

In June 1999 he led the CALA Management Team in a successful £100M Buy-Out backed by the Bank of Scotland. This was at the time the largest ever MBO in Scotland.

Geoff was appointed Non-Executive Chairman of McCarthy & Stone plc following the £1bn takeover by a consortium consisting of the Bank of Scotland Land Companies controlled by Simon Reubens and Tom Hunter. He has recently become a member of the Advisory Board of Candy & Candy Ltd.

Mr Ball was President of the Housebuilders Federation in England and Wales from 2001 - 2003, is a non-executive director of Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust plc, and was a director of the Standard Life Assurance Company for 12 years until 2000.

He was Chairman of the Board of Governors of George Watsons College from 1989 to 1994, and was a member of the Scottish Arts Council from 1984 to 1989. He set up, with the Leader and Chief Executive of the City of Edinburgh Council, a Business Assembly for Edinburgh and chaired this for its first two years of existence.

With an Honours Degree in Building at Heriot Watt University, Alan was employed by Norwest Holst, a Civil Engineering Company in the South of England, from 1971-83. During this time, Alan attended City University London, where he qualified as a Chartered Civil Engineer. From 1983-87, Alan was Regional Director of Wimpey Homes in Scotland, before joining CALA as Managing Director of the company's successful Scottish housing subsidiary. In 1997, Alan was appointed as Group Managing Director.

Robert was born and brought up in Belfast. He attended Dundee University and obtained a B.Sc. (Hons.) degree in Town and Regional Planning. Robert started his career as a town planner with the City of Edinburgh Council, and subsequently qualified as a chartered surveyor before joining CALA as a land buyer in 1985 based in Edinburgh.

Following several board appointments in Scotland, Robert became Managing Director of CALA Homes (South) in 1995. Robert was appointed to the Executive Board and to the Group Main Board as Group Development Director in 2001, where he combined executive responsibility for the three English housing subsidiaries and Group land strategy.  

Robert is now Group Land and Planning Director, overseeing the Group land acquisition and product design programme. He is currently a member of both the Royal Town Planning Institute and the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors.

Mike Freshney was appointed as Non-Executive Director of CALA Group on July 2002, and is a member of both the Audit and Remuneration Committees. He is also Chairman of CALA Homes subsidiaries in South and Midlands.

Mike retired from the Main Board of the Berkeley Group plc in 2002, after a lifetime in the homebuilding industry. Prior to his time at Berkeley he had been Managing Director of Crest Homes plc and a Director of Alfred McAlpine Homes.

He has particular strengths in product, design, construction, technical and customer service aspects of the homebuilding business.

Mike is Non-Executive Chairman of NHBC Building Control Services Ltd, and Beechcroft Developments Ltd.

In addition, he is a Non-Executive Director of the Homebuilders Federation, Robust Details Ltd, and Westerman Homes Ltd, and also represents UK Homebuilding interests in the European Housing Confederation (UEPC).

Alan trained as a chartered quantity surveyor with Ideal Homes before qualifying in 1984. He joined CALA in 1986 as a Development Manager for CALA Homes (South).

In July 1990, Alan became Development Director of CALA Homes (South) before being appointed as Managing Director of CALA Homes (Midlands) in 1995.

Alan was appointed to the Executive Board in July 2006, and the Group Board in August 2007, following his appointment as Regional Chairman of CALA Homes in England.

Alan also has Group responsibilities for Sales and Marketing and Corporate Communications.

A graduate in Economics and Accountancy, Gerry joined Deloitte's to complete his CA training. He joined CALA in 1987, as Financial Accountant. He was appointed as Company Secretary in 1997, before taking the position of Managing Director for CALA Homes (Yorkshire) in 1999 , following CALA's successful delisting from the London Stock Exchange.

In 2001, Gerry returned to Scotland to become Managing Director of CALA Homes (East), following the division of the Scottish subsidiary into two separate companies.

Gerry is a Council Member of CBI Scotland and a Director and member of the Executive Committee of the housebuilding trade body, Homes for Scotland.

In July 2006, Gerry was appointed to the Group Executive Board, and appointed to the Main Board of CALA Group with overall responsibility for CALA Homes in Scotland in August 2007.

An associate Member of the Chartered Institute of Building, Raymond joined Wimpey Homes in 1987 as a Group Trainee where he trained in Building and Civil Engineering. He was educated at the Glasgow College of Building and Printing obtaining a post graduate Diploma in Construction Management.

Raymond joined CALA's construction team in 1995 and became a member of the CALA Homes East Ltd Board as Construction Director in 2001. He was subsequently appointed as Production Director in 2003 with a remit over the companys' construction and technical matters. In 2005 he was appointed Regional Director in Aberdeen and is also a Board Director for the Joint Venture Company, CALA Campus Ltd. Raymond was appointed as Managing Director of CALA Homes (North) in August 2007.

Raymond spends his free time with his wife Alison and his young family of two. He also finds time to coach football and play golf at his local course in Aboyne, Aberdeenshire.

Kevin attended Napier University and gained a BEng (Hons) in Engineering with Management in 1994.

Following University Kevin joined United Biscuits as a Project Engineer from 1994 to 1996 before joining Yuill Homes as a Land Development Manager in 1996. Kevin left Yuill Homes to join CALA Homes Scotland as a Land Manager in 1999.

Since joining CALA, Kevin has progressed from Land Director in 2001 to Development Director in 2003, to his current position of Managing Director for CALA Homes (East) Ltd.

Kevin also has an MBA attained in 1999 at Newcastle University.

Alastair joined CALA in 2001 as a Land Director, and was appointed to Managing Director of CALA Homes (West) Ltd in August 2007. His career started in local Government where he worked within planning for 6 years before joining the development industry.

In 1994, Alastair joined Beazer Homes to set up a strategic land function in Scotland. He was promoted to Land Director in 1998 leaving in 2001 to join CALA.

Alastair has a BSc (Hons) in Town and Country Planning from Heriot Watt and is a member of the Royal Town Planning Institute (RTPI).

Darren, born into a family of builders, was educated at Easingwold Comprehensive school following which he attended Lancashire Polytechnic where he obtained an HND in Building Studies and a Diploma in Construction Management and Finance.

He joined Beazer Homes in 1989 and worked his way through from Assistant Site Manager to Site Manager and Contracts Manager.

In 1996 he joined Crosby Homes as Construction Manager to set up the Yorkshire region, and was promoted to Construction Director in 2000.

He joined CALA in 2004 as Construction Director, and was promoted to MD in 2007.

Darren lives in the village of Huby just north of York and has been married to Paula for 13 years, with whom he has two children.

Darren started his career with Bryant Homes in 1989 as a Management Trainee. He worked through the ranks with Bryant's and became Commercial Director before leaving in 2002 to Join David Wilson Homes, initially as Development Director and then becoming Managing Director of their East Midlands Region. Darren then joined CALA in April 2006 as Managing Director of Midlands.

Graham joined CALA in January 2006 as a Land Director and was promoted to the position of Managing Director of CALA Homes (South) Ltd on the 1st July 2007.

With a BSC(Hons) in Residential Development from Nottingham Trent University, Graham started his career with Wilcon Homes on the Graduate Trainee programme. He then joined Laing Homes as a Junior Land Buyer in 1998, progressing to the role of Land and Planning Director when he left to join CALA in 2006.

Graham also has an OND in Construction Management.