Building More Than Houses | Eve McCurrich of Whiteburn Projects

In this episode of Scale HER Up – The Female Entrepreneur Show, I’m joined by Eve McCurrich, Managing Director of Whiteburn Projects Limited, an award-winning SME house builder based in Edinburgh and building across the southeast of Scotland.

Eve shares what it really means to build homes, not just houses. From the earliest stage of looking at a piece of land, through planning, design, construction and handing over the keys, she and her team are thinking about the lives that will be lived there. She talks passionately about quality, customer experience, placemaking and why home is so much more than a financial investment.

We talk about Whiteburn’s work on both brownfield and greenfield developments, the importance of building communities rather than just filling land, and the role SME house builders play in tackling Scotland’s housing emergency. Eve also explains why she is such a vocal advocate for smaller builders, local supply chains and greater support for the sector.

Eve’s own journey is fascinating. She started out with a summer job on the Sizewell B nuclear power station project, went on to train as a chartered quantity surveyor, worked across major infrastructure and housebuilding projects around the UK, spent time in Dubai building a climbing wall and aerial assault course, and eventually found her way to Whiteburn. Her career has not followed a neat straight line, but it has been shaped by relationships, curiosity, confidence and a willingness to say yes to new opportunities.

We also dive into the realities of leadership in construction: managing a small core team with a wide network of subcontractors and professional partners, creating a culture of pride and accountability on site, and helping young people see the huge range of careers that exist within the built environment.

This is a thoughtful, practical and passionate conversation about construction, leadership, resilience and why building homes well still matters deeply.

In this episode, we cover:

1. What Whiteburn Projects does as an award-winning SME house builder
2. Why home is about emotion, memory, family and safety, not just bricks and mortar
3. The difference between building developments and creating places where people want to live
4. Brownfield vs greenfield sites and why brownfield can be the most sustainable option
5. Designing homes for different life stages, including downsizers and older buyers
6. The realities of building net zero homes under current Scottish regulations
7. The challenge of balancing sustainability, affordability and profitability in housebuilding
8. Eve’s career journey from temporary document control job to chartered quantity surveyor to Managing Director
9. Working on infrastructure, major housebuilding projects and even a climbing wall build in Dubai
10. Taking Whiteburn from developer-led projects to full designer-builder-seller model
11. Managing a small team with many moving parts, subcontractors and specialist partners
12. Creating a site culture focused on quality, cleanliness, pride and customer care
13. Encouraging more young people to consider careers in construction and the built environment
14. The huge variety of professional roles involved in delivering a single new home
15. The decline of SME house builders and the barriers facing smaller firms today
16. Planning delays, legislative uncertainty and why certainty matters for housing delivery
17. Why resilience, relationships and asking for help are essential leadership skills
18. Eve’s advice to women stepping into senior roles: go for it, ask the question and trust yourself