Gracemount Mansion Development Trust
Gracemount Mansion Development Trust (GMDT) is a Scottish Charitable Incorporated Organisation (SCIO) Charity no: SC052155.
GMDT was established to manage the transfer of The Mansion and surrounding grounds into community ownership and to manage the re-development and ongoing use.
Our Mission
Our mission is to develop and reopen The Mansion, surrounding buildings and greenspaces, as a community hub where we can offer a range of learning, training, volunteering, social, environmental and heritage opportunities and activities, that benefit the mental and physical health & wellbeing of the community.
If you'd like to read GMDT's charitable purposes you can find them here
Gracemount Mansion Development Trust
Our Team
Our Trustees bring a wide set of skills and experience to the GMDT board as well as their passion to drive forward the Gracemount Mansion project.
The Board are strongly supported by our employees, members and volunteers who are instrumental in helping GMDT deliver on our charitable purposes to support the community.
Lindsay Aitken
Chair
Lindsay has been a resident of Gracemount since 2005 and has been an active member of the local school communities, where she has held roles as Chair of both Gracemount Primary and Gracemount Secondary schools.
Professionally Lindsay is a qualified accountant, internal auditor and project manager, having held a career within financial services for over 25 years.
During 2020, Lindsay founded the community group ‘Friends of the Mansion’, to raise awareness and gather support for the Gracemount Mansion project, and in November 2022 established GMDT as a charity.
Lindsay is using her skill set to Chair the GMDT board and support the Trust to manage the CAT of The Mansion and grounds, and deliver opportunities and activities on site for the benefit of the community.
John Boyle
Vice Chair
John has been a local resident to Gracemount since 2004. John was a Trustee and Treasurer for another local charity, The Gilmerton Community Centre. Prior to that he was a Director and fundraiser for the Scots Music Group charity for seven years. Organising and hosting monthly ceilidhs.
John has held various senior managerial positions for circa 40 years within Finance and Banking Organisations. Having qualified with the International Compliance Association in 2008, he latterly focused principally on compliance and governance and set up his own consultancy business.
John is acutely aware of the gap in community support and activities, covering all generations, in the Gracemount area, following the closure of the Mansion. He is keen to offer his knowledge and expertise to the Trustee Board and Gracemount Project.
Dr Christine Fitton
Treasurer
Christine has had an extensive career within the public and voluntary sectors, and is now a freelance consultant in education and training.
Christine is Vice Chair of the Scottish European Educational Trust (SEET) and a member of SEET Finance Committee.
Christine is also a member of the Goodison Group in Scotland which brings together experienced people from the worlds of Business, Government and Education to focus on particular themes to do with learning, skills, employment and productivity.
Christine has lived in the local Gracemount and Liberton area for over 40 years and previously attended classes in The Mansion.
Ken Aitken
Trustee
Ken is a strategically focused Chartered Surveyor with over 45 years’ experience in the public, corporate and private property sectors across the UK, and years of experience in the management, refurbishment and development of all types of property both large and small. He also has a great deal of experience in the management of Health and Safety at leadership level and wide ranging experience in running multi-disciplinary property teams.
Having recently semi-retired and previously served on boards, Ken is keen to use his experience to support the Gracemount Project, allowing him to give something back to the larger community.
Anna Aitchinson
Trustee
Anna is a chartered town planner currently working at the City of Edinburgh Council as the team manager for Development Planning. She is a history graduate from the University of Edinburgh where she specialised in urban and architectural history and built on this interest by completing a Masters in European Urban Conservation at Dundee. Her career has focussed on a range of planning and conservation work. In particular, she was the principal planner for the listed buildings team within Edinburgh for several years.
Anna is on the Board of Trustees for the Institute of Historic Building Conservation and is treasurer for its Scotland Branch.
Anna has lived in the Liberton/Gilmerton area for over 25 years and is keen to support the project and bring a historic building and grounds back to life for the local community.
Stephen Brown
Trustee
Stephen has been a resident in the Liberton and Gracemount area for c24 years.
Having spent a 40 year career within the UK insurance market, Stephen is now retired and is keen to support the Gracemount Project allowing him to give back to the local community.
Stephen also sits on the Board of Trustees for the nearby Queens Hall, a local music venue where artists love to play. And is on the management board of a volunteer led community project.
Dr Jane Hartley
GMDT Development Coordinator
Jane is our Development Coordinator. She joined GMDT in 2023 and is responsible for organising and running events and activities for the Mansion community.
Jane is a health researcher and health consultant with a passion for holistic health. She gained her PhD in Medical Sociology at the Medical Research Council in Glasgow.
She worked in academia for 15 years, focusing on community and family mental health research. During that time, she collaborated with government and published internationally. She is also a yoga and meditation teacher, with a focus on trauma-informed practices.
Jane is dedicated to supporting the health and wellbeing of the Gracemount Mansion community.
Erica Trompeter
Trustee
Erica is a qualified solicitor who now deals with litigated personal injury claims and property damage claims for insurance companies.
Erica studied Law with French and regularly appears in the Sheriff courts. She is also a Notary Public, Law Society of Scotland.
Erica has lived in the local area for a number of years and is Treasurer for the Parent Teacher Association at the local Gracemount Primary School.
Emma Lawrence
GMDT Project Manager
Emma joined GMDT in 2024 as our Project Manager. She is responsible for coordinating the various project teams, the building works and delivering an exciting Heritage related activity programme for the community.
Emma has a BA in History of Art from UCL, an MSc in Architectural Conservation, a Teaching English as a Foreign Language qualification, and a PGCE in Primary teaching. She also ran a heritage consultancy, Building Learning, for 11 years. Clients and assets ranged from Hadrian's Wall to Bletchley Park, and projects across mainland Scotland.
More recently Emma worked for Fife Historic Building Trust, and delivered an ambitious programme of heritage training and engagement activities as part of an area-based heritage regeneration programme. Prior to that she worked with Action Porty, preparing to open, then running the former Portobello Parish Church, Scotland's first urban community right to buy.
Emma brings a wealth of experience to the Gracemount Project.
The GMDT board must have a minimum of 3 and up to 12 Trustees
If you are interested in becoming a Trustee of GMDT, please contact the Chair
GMDT requires a minimum of 20 members. The Trustees are accountable to the members of GMDT.
GMDT members are key to the Charities decision making process.
If you would like to become a member of GMDT please complete this form
All members will be invited to our Annual General Meeting (AGM) and other general meetings throughout the year, where local members will have voting rights. Non local members will be invited to attend but will not have voting rights, although we will listen to all members views and opinions
