About Us
Our Team
Dane Harrop
Managing Director
Laura Jones
Non-Executive Director
Lead for Property and Stakeholders
Sean Gilbert
Chair of the Board
Paul Osbourn
Non-Executive Director – Finance
Dane Harrop
Managing Director
Dane Harrop’s name may well be familiar due to his captaincy of the Isle of Man Team for the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006, having previously represented the Island in swimming events since 1993.
With construction in the family blood, Dane took a slightly different pathway than his builder father to reach his current level of experience and expertise in the built environment. Dane was recruited by the Kier Group in 2002 and he enjoyed 20 years of multiple career progression. This culminated, in recent years, in a series of leadership design and build roles across large-scale capital, high profile projects including the Storyhouse Theatre in Chester, Shakespeare North near Liverpool, Manchester Aquatic Centre and Theatr Clwyd in North Wales.
Within his role of resourcing construction projects from tendering, through preconstruction and construction stages, Dane has ensured that the focus has been on the delivery of sustainable design solutions. Over his career he has undertaken multiple projects where sustainability standards such as BREEAM were contractual requirements. Dane’s strong technical capabilities have been matched by a lead role in client management, line management responsibilities and in managing external teams of multidisciplinary consultants.
Dane holds an honours degree in Architecture from the University of Liverpool and an MSc in Sustainable Built Environment from Liverpool John Moore’s University.
Laura Jones
Non-Executive Director - Lead for Property and Stakeholders
After a successful career in the UK, Laura returned to the Island with her family in 2017. She launched LJA, an architectural consultancy, to provide design advice and technical guidance to public sector and private clients, with the majority of her clients located off-Island.
In her role as client adviser for an academy trust on a new £30million all-through school development in the South East of England, Laura provided extensive feasibility studies, brief generation and technical design guidance. Previously Laura worked at a large local authority in the UK as a client-side architect, positioned at the heart of a small team responsible for a significant public sector estate. In this role Laura advised on many high value construction projects and developed an expertise in strategic, inclusive and community design, often in urban regeneration and brownfield development settings.
Prior to working in local government, Laura was a Senior Lecturer & Head of Year at the Leicester School of Architecture. She often draws on her strong academic background; having been awarded a BA (Hons) & BArch (Hons) in Architecture, an MA in Architectural Design with Distinction, and an Advanced Diploma in Professional Practice in Architecture.
Laura is the MDC’s Non-Executive Director responsible for oversight of design, development & stakeholder engagement.
Sean Gilbert
Chair of the Board
Sean has spent 40 years as a developer and contractor in the property sector dealing with the regeneration of brownfield sites throughout the UK but mainly in the Midlands covering all sectors from residential to commercial and leisure. He has worked in partnership with a range of enterprises, from SMEs to companies listed in the FTSE 100.
Sean brings to the Board a wealth of experience and knowledge, from concept through to completion, ranging from commercial refurbishment of large industrial units, design and build of manufacturing facilities and logistics/distribution units through to constructing and developing new car showrooms, petrol forecourts, pubs and retail parks. Throughout his career Sean has dealt with acquisitions and disposals of both trading businesses and property portfolios.
In addition to his role at Manx Development Corporation, Sean is also a non-executive director of several off Island companies. He has been an Isle of Man resident since 2006. Away from work, Sean is a keen follower of Wolves FC. Sean enjoys walking and in 2023 he trekked to Mount Everest Base Camp to raise money for Cancer Research. Over the years, Sean has been a member of Round Table and Rotary Club and raised money for many charities.
Paul Osbourn
Non-Executive Director - Lead for Finance
Paul is currently CFO of Isle of Man based UK property development group, Artisan Real Estate Limited and non-executive director and chair of the audit and risk committee for Manx Development Corporation.
A Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England & Wales, he was formerly chief financial officer for an Isle of Man-based, Johannesburg-listed real estate investment group, having previously been a London-based partner of Roland Berger Strategy Consultants and chief executive of Deloitte’s corporate finance business in Bahrain.
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claire Pullen
Project Manager
Claire has a BSc (Hons) in Business and Technology and over 25 years experience in Marketing, Project Management and Property Management. Her confident and creative approach to situations often offers a unique perspective and yields innovative results.
Having owned and run a property management company for the past 14 years, and managed multiple builds, she has a broad knowledge of the Manx property market and a keen interest in sustainable building techniques.
Claire recently self-built an airtight Green Oak Framed home where she now lives with her family.
Lara Swales
Head of Finance
Lara moved to the Isle of Man in 2015 with her family and is passionate about making a difference to the place she now calls home.
Having gained her BA (Hons) at the University of Leeds she then spent 3 years training with KPMG and qualified as a Chartered Accountant in 2003, becoming a Fellow of the ICAEW in 2013. She has worked in a number of roles across both the private and public sectors in her career and has been fortunate to work on all aspects of a company’s lifecycle including acquisitions and disposals, gaining experience in company integrations, system changes and team management.
Lara has travelled extensively, working and volunteering in the US, Australia and Vietnam and is keen to continue to visit new and intriguing places.
Outside of work Lara divides her time between her family, spending time with friends and pursuing her interests at the gym. Lara is a keen walker and in 2022 completed the Parish Walk with an hour to spare!
