The value of hub East Central Scotland community infrastructure across Perthshire, Tayside, Forth Valley and Fife has grown to £617 million, of which £340m is now open and operational, according to the organisation’s latest annual report.

The Performance Report 2017 -18 shows that five new schools were completed across the region during the year, along with a unique project to refurbish and rebuild the historic Perth Theatre. hub has now successfully delivered 28 new infrastructure projects for health, education and cultural bodies as well as emergency services.

Projects worth £151m are currently under construction and support over 23,000 jobs, of which almost 12,000 are employees who live locally. A further £169m of work is currently in development. In the last year hub once again significantly increased targeted employments and skills outcomes in the region.

Public bodies in the area continued to benefit from a unique strategic development fund established by the hub to enable early feasibility work to transform initial concepts into buildings. To date, this fund has provided over £3m to kick start community projects and without it many would not have moved beyond conceptual stages.

Ian Mullen, chairman, hub East Central Scotland, said: “hub East Central Scotland is the strategic development partner of choice for public bodies across the region and we work closely with them to support their development plans, from initial concept through to final delivery.

“Our teams continue to deliver high quality buildings which have become living social, cultural and educational hubs at the heart of the communities they serve.

“hub has made a significant contribution to the local economy in the region with £176m of work undertaken by SME’s within the territory to date. We continue to work with companies who are suppliers on the Scottish Government’s supported business framework.”

The Carnegie Library and Galleries in Dunfermline, completed by hub last year, was named Best Building in Scotland by the Royal Incorporation of Architects Scotland. Designed by Richard Murphy Architects, the distinctive building has also been recognised with awards from the Edinburgh Architectural Association and RICS Scotland.

hub East Central Scotland is a public/private partnership established to create a long term development programme for the creation and delivery of high quality community facilities and services at best value.

Projects completed in the last year include:

Forth Valley

Perth & Kinross

Tayside

Projects currently under construction include: