Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

HIE’s spending plans hit by property market slowdown

HIE's property portfolio includes its £13million headquarters in Inverness.
HIE's property portfolio includes its £13million headquarters in Inverness.

Spending plans by the north’s development quango have dropped by more than £4million in a year amid a slowdown in sales and lettings of its extensive property portfolio.

Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE), which owns more than 230 buildings and sites around the region, has blamed UK market conditions rather than specific issues in the area’s economy.

An agency document revealed an income and expenditure forecast of £76.9million for the current financial year, which started in April. The sum is £4.27million down on the £81.17million estimated for the previous year.

Yesterday HIE confirmed “lowered expectations” of income from its property was the main reason for its latest financial predictions.

The figures appear in minutes of the April meeting of the Scottish Government-funded quango’s board, where the head of finance told members property sales had “become a more challenging activity.”

Yesterday, a HIE spokesman said: “In recent years there has been a general slowdown in the commercial property market in the UK as a whole.  This is partly a result of difficulties in raising finance and is not specific to the Highlands and Islands.

“HIE has a long-standing policy of selling property that it owns and re-investing the proceeds in a variety of projects to develop the region.  The make-up and value of our property portfolio changes over time, which in turn influences the property we seek to market in any given year.”

He added the forecast figures would be reviewed during the year and could be adjusted.

HIE’s portfolio currently comprises 116 industrial and office premises, 80 development plots, eight “strategic development sites,” 21 plots to let to business on long-term leases and nine “miscellaneous properties.” It includes the agency’s new £13million An Lochran headquarters in Inverness.

Scottish quantity surveying company Graham and Sibbald has acted as HIE’s property managing agent, responsible for sales and lets, since 2005.  The agency recently put the contract out for tender, with an estimated three-year value of £780,000-£850,000, excluding VAT.

HIE’s income and expenditure forecast for 2017/18 includes “grant-in-aid” funding from the Scottish Government of £66.7million.  The figure is down £500,000 from Holyrood’s 2016/17 contribution of £67.2million, which was topped up with a further £750,000 during the year.

The agency’s figures factor in funding it expects from other sources, including the EU.  They do not include money it will receive for projects and subsidiary organisations including broadband roll-out, Community Broadband Scotland, Wave Energy Scotland, the Northern Innovation Hub and the Scottish Land Fund.