Stewart Milne

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

, DBA, DTech (born 23 July 1950) is a Scottish businessman and former football club chairman, from

Alford, Aberdeenshire Alford (pronounced or , ) is a large village in Aberdeenshire, north-east Scotland, lying just south of the River Don. It lies within the Howe of Alford (also called the Vale of Alford) which occupies the middle reaches of the River Don. The ...

. Milne is a major shareholder in

Aberdeen F.C. Aberdeen Football Club is a Scottish professional Association football, football club based in Aberdeen, Scotland. They compete in the and have List of unrelegated association football clubs, never been relegated from the top division of th ...

, and joined the club's

board of directors A board of directors is a governing body that supervises the activities of a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government agency. The powers, duties, and responsibilities of a board of directors are determined by government regulatio ...

in 1994 to replace Dick Donald, subsequently becoming chairman in 1998. In November 2019, shortly after opening a new training facility on the western outskirts of the city, he announced that he would be stepping down as chairman. He has an honorary doctorate in

business administration Business administration is the administration of a commercial enterprise. It includes all aspects of overseeing and supervising the business operations of an organization. Overview The administration of a business includes the performance o ...

from

Robert Gordon University Robert Gordon University, commonly called RGU (), is a public university in the city of Aberdeen, Scotland. It became a university in 1992, and originated from an educational institution founded in the 18th century by Robert Gordon (philanthrop ...

(December 2000), and an honorary doctorate of technology from

Edinburgh Napier University Edinburgh Napier University () is a public university in Edinburgh, Scotland. Napier Technical College, the predecessor of the university, was founded in 1964, taking its name from 16th-century Scottish mathematician and philosopher John Napie ...

(November 2007), and an honorary doctorate from

Heriot-Watt University Heriot-Watt University () is a public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was established in 1821 as the School of Arts of Edinburgh, the world's first mechanics' institute, and was subsequently granted university status by roya ...

, in recognition of his outstanding

entrepreneurial Entrepreneurship is the creation or extraction of economic value in ways that generally entail beyond the minimal amount of risk (assumed by a traditional business), and potentially involving values besides simply economic ones. An entrepreneu ...

contribution to the housebuilding, construction and property development industry and to the Scottish economy, also for services to

higher education in Scotland There are fifteen Universities in Scotland, universities based in Scotland, the Open University, and three other institutions of higher education. The first university in Scotland was St John's College, St Andrews, founded in 1418. St Salvat ...

. He earned the 2005 Scottish Entrepreneur of the Year award. In the

2008 New Year Honours The New Year Honours 2008 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 29 December 2007, to celebrate the year passed and mark the beginning of 2008. The recipients of honours are displayed here as they were styled before their new honour, and ...

, he was awarded a CBE for services to the housebuilding industry in Scotland.

Stewart Milne Group

Milne founded the Aberdeen-based Stewart Milne Construction Group, a

housebuilding Home construction or residential construction is the process of constructing a house, apartment building, or similar residential building generally referred to as a 'home' when giving consideration to the people who might now or someday reside t ...

contractor, in 1975. He started off his business renovating bathrooms. Stewart Milne Group sold its timber frame manufacturing subsidiary to Fife-based James Donaldson & Sons in 2021. In April 2022, the group announced that the housebuilding business was up for sale. In January 2024, the Scottish housebuilding business went into

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal: the process of dealing with or controlling things or people. ** Administrative assistant, traditionally known as a se ...

with the loss of 217 jobs, due to "the slump in the oil-linked property market around Aberdeen and the firm's hesitance to buy land during Covid". The group's English subsidiary,

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

-based Stewart Milne Homes North West England (Developments) Ltd, also went into administration, on 12 January 2023, with

Homes England Homes England is the non-departmental public body that funds new affordable housing in England. It was founded on 1 January 2018 to replace the Homes and Communities Agency (HCA). HCA in turn was established by the Housing and Regeneration Act ...

set to lose up to £9.2m as a result. The group collapsed owing suppliers and subcontractors £153m.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Milne, Stewart 1950 births Living people Chairmen and investors of football clubs in Scotland Aberdeen F.C. directors and chairmen Commanders of the Order of the British Empire People from Alford, Aberdeenshire 20th-century Scottish businesspeople 21st-century Scottish businesspeople