The Scottish Government body that manages procurement for public sector infrastructure projects yesterday said the value of buildings under construction has reached £1.16billion.
Projects, including the building of schools and healthcare facilities in Aberdeen, Inverurie, Elgin and Shetland, are supporting more than 9,000 jobs, the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT) added.
The new £55million Anderson High School, in Lerwick, is one of 40 schools currently being built under the SFT’s “hub programme.” Later this month work is due to to get underway on a £60million hospital in Orkney, which is also backed by the trust.
The SFT replaced the much-criticised public private partnerships (PPIs) and private finance initiative (PFI) funding mechanisms.
The trust leads on the delivery of the hub programme, which operates across five geographical territories in Scotland. In each territory, local authorities, HNS boards and other public bodies have teamed up with a private sector partner to form a “hubCo” joint venture company to deliver projects.
Aberdeen, the north-east and the Highlands are included in the north of Scotland hub area.
So far more than 100 projects have been completed around Scotland using the mechanism.
David MacDonald, hub programme director at SFT, said: “The hub programme is a unique way of delivering best-value community facilities that provides the public sector with a quick and efficient way of getting their projects into construction.
“Integral to the hub programme are community benefits. So far, 153 new graduates and over 770 new apprenticeship and trainee positions have been created which represents a considerable contribution to the skill-base supporting Scotland’s economic development.”