DM Hall, one of Scotland’s largest independent firms of Chartered Surveyors, has announced this year’s winner of its £500 annual bursary scheme.

The award, open to any student entering the MSc course in Real Estate Management at the University of Glasgow, has been made to Tommy Turner, of Cambuslang, South Lanarkshire, who graduated Bachelor of Accountancy (BAcc) in 2020 at the University of Glasgow.

Mr Turner impressed the bursary scheme assessors in having applied his financial property management knowledge to practical use, working as financial manager of Glasgow-based property company, Dyer & Co, a management company for property investors, while studying for his MSc qualification which he hopes to complete in September 2024.

The bursary scheme is a tribute to the enduring contribution made both to the profession of surveying and to his firm by its former Senior Partner, John Hamilton Young. He was instrumental in helping turn DM Hall, one of Scotland’s oldest surveying firms, into the force it is today.

Mr Turner said: “I am grateful to everyone at DM Hall for giving me this invaluable support. The Real Estate market is at the forefront of our everyday lives as it helps to shape the way we connect and interact with the world around us.

My journey into real estate is driven by the desire to help change the legislative environment in which it operates to provide a more sustainable, inclusive and community driven pathway for future urban planning.”

He added: “With my future focus on helping to shape Glasgow City policy, I am committed to bringing green spaces, net zero developments and an increase in the use of renewables for future developments.

This will require developers, investors and councils to commit to long lasting, responsible developments that will last far into the future and I hope and trust the late Mr Young would approve.”

Alan Gordon, DM Hall’s Senior Partner, said: “The bursary was intended to be an annual, highly practical commemoration of John’s life and work and we are delighted, this year, to make this award to Tommy.

His determination, vision and expertise make him a worthy winner of the bursary and I, alongside my fellow assessors, expect to hear quite a bit more of Tommy’s contribution to our city and its built environment over the coming years.”

The late John Young joined DM Hall, a firm established in 1897, in 1970, and opened its Glasgow office before spearheading a rapid expansion in the eighties which led to the firm having an extensive network of offices across Scotland as well as expanding earlier this year into the North of England.

In 1985, he was made Senior Partner, a role he relished as he increased DM Hall’s footprint with a swathe of new office openings to meet the rising demands of homeowners and a new property-owning environment. His daughter, Katie Craig, is also a chartered surveyor and was made a DM Hall Partner in January 2022.

Dr Alan Gardner, Lecturer in Real Estate (Urban Studies) at the University of Glasgow, said: “We are honoured that DM Hall chose our Masters programme for the award and delighted by the choice of Tommy Turner as its 2023 recipient.”

Last year’s John H Young bursary award winner, Morgan Smith, is now a graduate surveyor in DM Hall’s Dunfermline office.