hub North Scotland, the driving force behind a range of community-based developments across the north of the country, has appointed Andrew Richmond as its new chairman.

Mr Richmond takes over from Jim Royan who has held the position for the last four years.

The new chairman has significant experience of the healthcare, stockbroking and private equity sectors and is currently a lay member of the court of the University of Dundee as well as a non-executive director of Scotland’s Charity Air Ambulance. He is also non-executive chairman of Frontier IP, a university Intellectual Property (IP) commercialisation specialist which is listed on the London Stock Exchange’s AIM market.

He takes over the role as hub North Scotland continues the development of a number of its ongoing projects including the delivery of the new Inverness Royal Academy, Wick Community Campus and Noss Primary School as well as the new Anderson High School and halls of residence in Shetland.

These projects follow a busy year for the organisation which has most recently handed over the new £11.75 million Brimmond School in Aberdeen and the £37m Alford Community Campus to Aberdeen City Council and Aberdeenshire Council respectively.

Andrew Richmond said: “I’m thrilled to be joining hub North Scotland at what is a key time in the development of a number of the organisation’s projects across the territory it operates within.

“This role presents me with a fresh challenge and I am looking forward to being a part of hub North’s future successes in the coming months and years. The underlying aim of hub North is to provide communities across the north of Scotland with first-class facilities that they can be proud of for generations to come and I’m excited to play a part as these continue to come to fruition.”

Angus Macfarlane, chief executive of hub North Scotland, said: “Andrew’s appointment to the hub North board follows the recent handover of two of our most high-profile education projects to-date and with a number of other developments currently in the construction phase, we are looking forward to adding to this throughout the forthcoming year.

“Andrew’s expertise within the healthcare and private equity industries will no doubt be an asset to hub North Scotland, with the next 12 months shaping up to be a fruitful and exciting period for the organisation.”

hub North Scotland comprises Alba Community Partnerships (a joint venture of Galliford Try Investments, Equitix and Sweett Investment Services), Scottish Futures Trust and 16 Northern Territory Partners, working with local suppliers and contractors to deliver quality buildings and services.