Lomondgate and Lomond Shores executive is honoured by The Queen
David Hastings MBE, Lord McFall and Lomondgate from the air.
By Bill Heaney
David Hastings, the driving force behind the Lomondgate regeneration project in Dumbarton, has been awarded the MBE in the Queen’s New Year Honours List.
Mr Hastings, who previously worked for Dunbartonshire Enterprise, was right hand man to Lord McFall, of Alcluith, who negotiated a special deal with Diageo, the international whisky and spirits distillers, to purchase the site of the former Strathleven Bonded Warehouses at Gooseholm and additional land at the foot of Bellsmyre. The purchase price was just £1.
The whisky warehouses have become studios for BBC Scotland, whose executives produce the soap opera River City and Still Game there and which has been used as the base for major television dramas.
An award winning director of property-based economic development and regeneration projects, David Hastings, a graduate of the Mackintosh School of Architecture in the University of Glasgow, has worked tirelessly to make Lomondgate a success.
The site straddles the Alexandria by-pass road, which is part of the A82 Glasgow-Loch Lomondside road, and a brand new housing estate runs from the Lomondgate roundabout down to the edge of Dumbarton Golf Club’s course at Broadmeadow and the banks of the River Leven.
Working often on his own from Strathleven House, Mr Hastings is an economic development and regeneration professional with a sustained track record of exceptional results.
Chief Executive of the Strathleven Regeneration Company, he worked for ten years until this year in a leadership role in special purpose vehicle created with the support of Diageo, West Dunbartonshire Council and Scottish Enterprise.
Its purpose was first to facilitate the physical and economic regeneration of the former J&B whisky bottling plant.
He reported to the board of directors, which was led by Lord McFall, and liaised with economic development agencies and local business and political leaders, including MSP Jackie Baillie and local councillors, Labour, SNP and Independent.
A member of the Helensburgh Chamber of Commerce, Hastings was appointed through open selection process as non-executive director/Chair of Inverness Airport Business Park Ltd, which is a partnership of Moray Estates Development Company, Highlands & Islands Airports Ltd and Highlands & Islands Enterprise, supported by the Highland Council.
His CV includes Glasgow Housing Association, where he was Director of Investment and Regeneration He was appointed on a three-year contract as member of Executive Management Team of Europe’s largest Registered Social Landlord.
The GHA was formed in March 2003 on the Large Scale Voluntary Stock Transfer of Glasgow City Council’s 80,000 houses.
There, David Hastings’s responsibilities included: capital investment, repairs and maintenance, new build, regeneration, demolition, neighbourhood renewal and much more.
Before that he was a self-employed economic development and regeneration consultant.
He successfully ran this consultancy business for seven and a half years, consistently delivering innovative, value adding work.
An under-stated, self-effacing man, David Hastings became a director of the Tullochan Trust, founded by Fiona Stewart, daughter of Brigadier Alistair Pearson.
He held other voluntary appointments with British Waterways and Helensburgh and Lomond Chamber of Commerce.
David is a member of the Economic Development Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, manufacture and commerce and The Tourism Society.
Meanwhile, a Kilcreggan man has been made an OBE in the New Year honours list.
Graham Bell received the award “for services to education, residential childcare and social enterprise”.
Mr Bell spent 24 years as chief executive of the Kibble Group, leading its growth from a small local organisation to one of the country’s major social enterprises and earning it international recognition as Scotland’s specialist centre for young people at risk.
He was also the board chair of the Scottish Social Enterprise Academy and guided its evolution from a small national organisation to an international company working in 10 countries.
“This award highlights the power of good business and committed people working together to make their community and country a better place.”
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