The developer behind the £35million Inverness Royal Academy project is set to have backed construction projects around Scotland worth £1billion by the end if its current financial year.
The Scottish Futures Trust (SFT), Scotland’s public/private partnership body, said it is supporting 4,000 construction jobs through a variety of “hub” development projects it is overseeing across the country.
These include the academy as well as the £31million Alford Community Campus.
Turf was cut at the Inverness Academy site in August to mark the start of construction on the school.
The school is due for completion by summer 2016 and will have room for about 1,500 pupils.
The value of community-based projects such as health centres, schools and council buildings either under construction or open that are being delivered through the Scotland-wide hub programme has increased 58% during the first six months of the 2014/15 financial year, a report from SFT found.
John Hope, the national hub programme director at SFT, said: “The hub programme is an innovative approach to deliver best-value community facilities which provides public bodies with a quick and efficient way of getting their projects into construction. With 84% of hub construction contracts being awarded to local SMEs, many thousands of local SME jobs are being protected.
“By the end of the financial year, the value of hub projects under construction or open will hit £1bn.”
He added: “The £31m Alford Community Campus stands as yet another example of how the hub programme is helping deliver exceptional value-for-money public sector buildings for the greater benefit of communities.
“When the Campus opens in October next year, it will provide the local community with access to first-class facilities including a library, a swimming pool, a community centre along with a primary and secondary school all under one roof.
“Many local SMEs are benefiting from the construction work and is providing a boost to the number of apprenticeship, work-placement and training opportunities that are being created.”
SFT is an independent company established by the Scottish Government in 2008, with a responsibility for delivering public sector infrastructure investment.