"The scale of these projects will have a dramatic impact on both the social and economic landscape of the islands. The creation of state of the art facilities will open up opportunities for stimulating new jobs and will support collaboration and growth in the creative industries," said (right) HIE chair, William Roe.

HIE is contributing a £750,000 funding package for the Stornoway Centre, which is being matched by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar. There is also funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).

Plans for the developments are well advanced and it is expected that a contractor will be appointed in the New Year. The project is being taken forward by Comhairle nan Eilean Siar. Up to 60 jobs could be created in the first five years.

Construction of the creative industries centre, based in Lerwick, began in June 2009 and is due to open in spring 2011.  In Shetland, the £12m Mareel   centre will begin recruiting staff in May 2010.

The centre could provide up to 53 direct and indirect jobs in Shetland, which is already home to over 200 organisations involved in the creative industries. The recent HIE Youth Migration Study indentified the creative industries as one of the most important sectors in encouraging young people to stay in or return to Shetland.

In August 2008, HIE approved funding of £965,000 towards Mareel. Other funders of the project include the Scottish Arts Council, Shetland Islands Council, Shetland Development Trust, ERDF and the Gannochy Trust. The Centre will be owned and managed by the Shetland Arts Development Agency (SADA), a registered charity and HIE account managed social enterprise.

CairnGorm Mountain tourism
Roe said: "This is a unique facility which underpins the economy of Aviemore and the wider area. Its contribution to the popularity of the Highlands during winter months is significant, but we need to endow it with a competitive reputation as a year-round visitor destination, attractive as a business proposal to a private operator."

"We believe we can achieve this through enhancing its revenue potential - improving  infrastructure, carrying out planned maintenance, developing the business structure and procurement strategy. We will also be putting in place a strategic overview of HIE's ownership of Cairngorm Estate."

HIE will set out its detailed proposals in an action plan which the Board will consider next spring. At today's meeting it was envisaged that HIE would retain ownership of the facility for another two to three years to enable the plan to be fully delivered.

The board was asked to consider strategy options set out by consultants Johnston and Carmichael following their review of operations at Cairngorm. The options included: consideration of maintaining the status quo - continuing the operations at the current level with HIE carrying out maintenance as necessary; a partial rebranding and repositioning of the business, or a third proposal building on the latter, but to include capital investment in the Ptarmigan building ( below) and Day Lodge.



Roe said: "The report gave us a robust overview of the current operations and taking into account our responsibility for health and safety, the board decided that HIE should embark on a period of sustained investment in infrastructure, maintenance and repairs as a pre-requisite to embarking on a tendering process."

HIE took over ownership of the operating company Cairngorm Mountain Ltd (CML) last summer when its debt burden threatened the viability of its future. HIE was able to negotiate with creditors to relieve the size of debt and, in partnership with independent consultants, set about researching a financially sustainable model that will enable CML to return to alternative ownership as an all-year tourist operator.