Following the retirement of Eck Patterson who, as one of the company’s first employees, had been an employee at Springfield for nearly 30 years, former divisional development director Darren Thomson has been promoted to the position.

From Elgin with a background in civil engineering, Darren first started his career with Springfield as assistant project manager in 2016. Since then, he has progressed through the ranks to his latest appointment as construction director.

He said: “My appointment has come at an exciting time for Springfield as we refocus on the North and the opportunities in the region, such as the investment from the green infrastructure improvements. An important part of this process is developing the construction workforce for the future.

“Supporting and developing staff is and always has been a significant part of our ethos. Like so many at Springfield, my predecessor included, I’ve worked with Springfield for a number of years and benefited from development opportunities along the way to prepare me for progression. We currently have 12.6% of staff either in higher education or employed as an apprentice.”

Last month, Springfield launched its apprenticeship recruitment scheme, advertising 21 apprenticeship opportunities, including joiners, bricklayers, painters and decorators and general construction across Springfield and Tulloch developments.

Darren said: “Our recent apprenticeship recruitment scheme highlighted the significant demand for apprenticeship opportunities, which is especially welcomed at a time where sourcing skilled trades, particularly in the North of Scotland, is challenging.

“Day to day, my focus will of course be to support our hard-working and diligent site teams to ensure we are continuing to build high quality and energy efficient homes, across multiple tenures, for people who need them. It’s an exciting new chapter in my Springfield career, and I’m looking forward to getting started.”

Springfield managing director, Dave Main, added: “Having worked closely with Darren over the past 8 years I am proud of his promotion to Construction Director and look forward to seeing him thrive in this new role. Darren is deeply committed to our business goals and values, and I have no doubt he will successfully lead our construction teams to ensure we continue to deliver the best quality homes for our customers.”

Springfield is currently building homes in Elgin, Forres, Inverness, Drumnadrochit and Dornoch with a new development recently launched in Buckie.