Avant Homes is to speed up its expansion plans after securing a £200 million bank facility and appointing a new construction director for Scotland.

The housebuilder, which has its Scottish head office in Stirling, said the revolving credit facility with lenders HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Santander and Bank of Ireland will enable it to “significantly” increase new land acquisitions in the Central Belt, north east England, Yorkshire, and the Midlands, as it looks to become a £500m-turnover, 2,000-unit developer.

Avant said it has 12 sites in Scotland, rising to an “optimum” of 15 to 20 in the next 12 to 24 months, and has already earmarked sites to buy in Glasgow, Newcastle, Sheffield and Nottingham.

The company told The Scotsman that in Glasgow the areas include Barrhead and Bishopton, and it is expanding towards the east of the Central Belt and the Edinburgh area in Penicuik, while it will have a strategic site in Dundee soon. North of the Border it has about 150 staff directly employed, with another 500 subcontractors on average.

Avant Homes chief executive, Colin Lewis, said: “The government must do more to support the cities and regions outside of the South East of England to ensure UK plc is as robust and powerful as it can be.

“Balancing UK economic growth will only become a reality if cities and regions in the North of England and across Scotland can create well-connected communities where people want to live.

“Our new £200m facility means we can enhance the role we already play in achieving this goal by accelerating our building of more much needed family homes. In addition, this extra financial firepower we now have to invest in land with help us to build more homes in new locations.”

Meanwhile, Avant Homes has bolstered its construction team in Scotland with the appointment of a new construction director.

Bryan Galloway brings over 30 years’ experience in the construction industry to his role having previously worked for national housebuilders including Wimpey Homes, CALA Homes and Miller Homes. Most recently, Bryan was head of construction at Barratt East Scotland.

Bryan said: “I’m very excited to be taking on my new role as construction director. It is a very exciting time for the business as it continues to grow and innovate within the housebuilding sector.

“I have a keen eye for quality and will be working closely with the construction team to ensure we continue to build the highest quality homes and provide the very best customer experience.

As part of his new role Bryan will have an active responsibility for ensuring excellence in all aspects of construction and an outstanding customer experience throughout the build process.

Commenting on Bryan’s appointment, David Knight, managing director of Avant Homes Scotland, said: “Bryan has a considerable wealth of experience and will be a real asset in helping to develop Avant Homes’ reputation for quality as we grow our portfolio of site in 2017.

“I’m confident that in his new post, Bryan will be able to strengthen our position in Scotland’s housebuilding market, and will play a key role the company’s future success.”

This latest announcement follows what the group described as an excellent trading performance over the past year.

Avant delivered record revenues of £369m in the year to 30 April with 1,636 total completions, up 35 per cent from the prior year.