BANKER Benny Higgins has been unveiled as the new executive chairman of estates, property and energy group Buccleuch.
Mr Higgins, who was chief executive of Tesco Bank and held senior roles at Royal Bank of Scotland and HBOS, will succeed the Duke of Buccleuch as chairman.
The Duke is stepping down at the start of March, shortly after his 65th birthday. His elder son, the Earl of Dalkeith, will become deputy chairman. The Earl was educated at Eton College and at the University of Edinburgh, where he graduated with a degree in geography. He studied for a further degree in commercial property chartered surveying and is working for Native Land, a London property company with which Buccleuch is involved closely.
Read More: Ian McConnell: Paris metro poster for slapstick British farce evokes Brexit metaphor
Mr Higgins has been a non-executive director of Buccleuch for six years.
Buccleuch said its chief executive, John Glen, would move from his current role to focus on a “strategic review of large-scale energy projects which are at a critical phase in their development”.
The Duke said the group had endured some difficult years after the 2008 financial crash but was now trading profitably and was “committed to driving forward its business objectives”.
He added: “The implementation of a strategy to reduce our overall rural footprint and realise property sales, while continuing to invest in a range of projects… has proved successful.”
Buccleuch’s interests include commercial property investment and development, hospitality and tourism, energy, rural land management and building design, and a wholesale tree nursery.
Among its energy projects, it operates a 200-kilowatt biomass boiler to provide heat for Drumlanrig Castle.
Buccleuch declared it had worked to ensure the former Glenmuckloch opencast coal mine “has a future beyond coal”.
It noted that a community-owned initiative with two turbines on the site in Dumfries and Galloway was already operational, with planning consent received to build eight, 3.2-megawatt turbines adjacent to the opencast site.
A pumped-storage scheme is being developed at the site. Buccleuch noted this scheme had received full planning consent from the Scottish Government and added that, once operational, it could generate up to 400MW of electricity at times of peak demand.
Buccleuch is also pursuing wind farm proposals at Hopsrig on the Borders Estate and in the North Lowther Hills on the Queensberry Estate, with both schemes “currently subject to planning procedure”.
Read More: UK laid low by Brexit debacle
Buccleuch said the Duke would continue to be involved in heritage elements of the family holdings, including historic houses and an art collection. He will also continue to chair the Buccleuch Living Heritage Trust.
The Duke said: “The last decade had seen a transformation of the group, with promising diversification into important new areas and the modernisation of our management structures and practices. I am pleased to announce the end of my chairmanship at a time when the business is in a very healthy position. I express warm appreciation to John Glen for his huge part in achieving that and pay to tribute to the energy and commitment of everyone within the group who has made it possible.”
Mr Higgins said that he was excited by the opportunities offered by the position.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel