Key directors quit Gladedale

Published on Saturday 9 May 2009 14:25

ONE of Scotland's highest-profile property firms, Gladedale Capital, has lost two key directors just eight months after the departure of its managing director.

Scotland on Sunday has learned that development directors Colin Macpherson and David Robinson are leaving the group, which is best known for its work on Edinburgh's 450m Quartermile project on the site of the former Royal Infirmary.

A spokesman for the company insisted that the departures, which have come as a great surprise to the property sector, were of their own volition and were not part of a redundancy process. "Both Colin and David have decided to move on to pursue other opportunities," he said.

He added that Macpherson and Robinson are currently working their notice period.

The two development directors are leaving the firm less than a year after former managing director Jim McIntyre left as part of a restructuring of the property venture, which was blamed on the "ongoing economic uncertainty".

Like many other property developers in Scotland, Gladedale has suffered from the downturn and has lost a number of staff. It has been forced to put construction at its 150m Broomielaw project in Glasgow on hold and withdrew from a joint bid last autumn with John Laing for the 1.25bn regeneration of Basildon town centre in Essex.

Gladedale Capital's property portfolio is valued in excess of 750m. In Scotland it is recognised for its work on Quartermile, a 19-acre development close to the Meadows in Edinburgh offering luxury apartments, 350,000 square foot of office space, and retail outlets.

The ambitious project is one of Scotland's largest city redevelopments.