People

Sandy Anderson is the Senior Partner of DGA Forestry and has over 40 years’ experience in forest management and consultancy in both the private and public sectors. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh in 1975 with a BSc Ecological Science (Honours Forestry) and gained an MBA with Distinction from Glasgow University in 1986. He has been a member of the Institute of Chartered Foresters since 1972.

From 1975 to 1987 he worked with the Forestry Commission gaining a wide range of experience in large scale afforestation projects, management of forest nurseries and management of district harvesting programmes within Dumfries and Galloway and South Ayrshire. Sandy joined the firm in 1987, became a partner in 1988 and senior partner in 2002.

In addition to Sandy’s extensive experience in forestry management, he has been involved in over 60 windfarm projects within forestry plantations in a variety of roles, ranging from advice to Landowners on the negotiation of windfarm option agreements and leases; contributions to numerous Environmental Statements; management of forestry operations during the construction phase; preparation, contribution and review of Habitat Management Plans; specialist advice on specific topics; and acted as an expert witness at Public Inquiries.

James Anderson is a partner with the firm and originally qualified as an architect. He worked in London for many years delivering complex major social housing, high end residential, master planning and urban renewal projects. The project management and designs skills utilised in such projects are transferable to the forestry and windfarm projects carried out by DGA Forestry. James is experienced in ArcGIS, MapMaker GIS, AutoCAD and a wide range of other design programmes. He has now been involved in over 30 windfarm and overhead line projects within forestry plantations, including GIS mapping; forest design planning; and contributions to numerous Environmental Statements. Having worked with DGA as a self-employed consultant over a number of years James joined DGA full time in 2012 to assist with the expanding project workload. James is the lead on DGA Forestry’s GIS mapping and data analysis and is also responsible for the operation of DGA Forestry’s UAV platform.

Ellie is a forest manager and joined DGA in 2019.  Ellie graduated from Bangor University in 2014 with a BSc (Hons) in Forestry and has worked across a range of sectors over the years.  Shortly after graduating, Ellie took time out from her career to start a family, she took this as an opportunity to further her education and is currently enrolled on a MSc in Forestry again at Bangor.  As a Forest Manager at DGA, Ellie is responsible for a wide ranging management portfolio covering properties across Scotland where she not only administers contracts and supervises the day to day forestry operations but also collates reports, prepares long term forest plans and grant applications.

Tom joined DGA in 2019, shortly after graduating from Bangor University with a MSc in Forestry.  Tom has a previous degree in Archaeology, which has given him a good grounding in the use of GIS software, report writing and critical analysis of management objectives.  He manages property across Scotland, his roles include the management of contracts, supervision of work, mensuration activities, preparation of reports and the production of management plans.

Thomas joined DGA in 2021 and is currently one of our Forest Managers, he graduated from Bangor University in 2020 with a 1st Class Honours degree in Forestry.  Originally from the south east of England, Thomas has travelled widely across the world before coming to Scotland to start his career in forestry.  He is responsible for managing numerous properties around Scotland, planning and overseeing operations from planting all the way through to harvesting.

Dorothy MacLachlan joined DGA in 2015 to manage the day to day running of the office. With over 30 years’ experience in the forestry sector, Dorothy deals with all aspects of the office management from organising stalking leases, maintaining records, to the coordination and implementation of office procedures.