Experienced property professional David Westwater will join Artisan this month as Scottish regional manager, following 40 years of industry experience including Frasers Property UK, Interserve plc and most recently, as development director at Robertson Property.

Mr Westwater will help take forward Artisan’s ambitious plans to progress low carbon housing development with mixed-use regeneration across prime city centre brownfield sites - including a £98m residential investment for Edinburgh alone.

Artisan has witnessed a significant expansion of its home-building operation in Scotland during the past 12-months, building on its more established track record as one of the UK’s most recognised and award-winning city centre regeneration specialists.

The developer will shortly begin construction on Rowanbank Gardens, a sustainable residential development delivering 126 high-end apartments in the Corstorphine area of Edinburgh. The development, on a former brownfield site, provides smart energy-efficient design geared to achieving low to zero carbon ratings whilst responding to the rapidly changing requirements of home buyers and the wider community following lockdown.

Artisan’s first residential development in Scotland, the 180-apartment Canonmills Garden overlooking the Water of Leith to the north of Edinburgh city centre, has now sold 85% of all available properties as it approaches completion later this year.

Clive Wilding, Artisan’s UK property director Clive Wilding, said: “These are exciting times for Artisan Real Estate in Scotland, and the strengthening of our team reflects the significant progress we have made during the last 12 months, despite the very obvious challenges faced during lockdown. Our current focus is developing prime brownfield sites across city centres in Edinburgh and Glasgow, delivering low carbon, multi-tenure housing with no fossil fuel, linked to high quality external spaces and integrated with a range of green transport options.

“We are delivering niche urban developments in the most exciting parts of the city centre, creating a high-value premium product for a wide range of homebuyers. And we have a very exciting residential pipeline and are actively identifying and securing new opportunities across Scotland’s major city centre areas – a process which will be hugely boosted by our expanded dedicated residential and commercial Scottish operation.”

Construction work on the £80m transformation of the Custom House building in Glasgow overlooking the River Clyde continues apace with a four-star, 294-bed Clayton Hotel and a 162-bedroom Adagio Apart-Hotel set to create a vibrant riverside quarter when it opens in 2022. Plaudits are still being received for Artisan’s £250m New Waverley development at the heart of Edinburgh’s Old Town, completed in 2020.

The development’s Queen Elizabeth House, now the flagship UK Government hub now home to 2,900 civil servants, was recently recognised by the British Council for Offices and was awarded its Innovation Award, gaining national profile for the development.

Jaco Jansen, Artisan’s CEO, added: “Artisan has an amazing opportunity in Scotland to set a new benchmark for high quality urban regeneration in sensitive city-centre environments – whether it be commercial, residential or mixed-use. This supports our other regional businesses, each with a similar focus in Bristol and Leeds.

“Our track record in Scotland has given us a strong understanding of the importance of high quality placemaking, which is at the heart of all Artisan’s developments. We are an ambitious and hungry company with an increasing appetite for bespoke developments in the best city centre areas. We are looking forward to expanding our footprint across Scotland and the rest of the UK.”