TOM CAMPBELL'S brand-new office in Airdrie Business Centre sits on the site of an old sewage works. There is not a trace of the site's decidedly unglamorous previous existence in the sleek modern building, and in a way this kind of metamorphosis is precisely what Campbell's role as chief executive of newly formed regeneration company, Fusion Assets, is all about.

He is on a mission to secure partners to help redevelop North Lanarkshire's sprawling acreage of derelict and contaminated brownfield land, converting it into offices, industrial units, shops and homes. "This is the central belt of Scotland but it often gets overlooked as just the bit between Glasgow and Edinburgh. The word from the property sector is that it really should be the buckle which links the two," Campbell says.

Fusion Assets, a 50/50 joint venture between Scottish Enterprise Lanarkshire and North Lanarkshire Council, backed by public and private sector funding, was set up at the start of the year to capitalise on regeneration and economic development opportunities in North Lanarkshire.

Campbell will outline his vision for Fusion on Tuesday at a launch meeting to be held in Ken McCulloch's stylish Dakota Hotel at Eurocentral.

Hotel business multimillionaire McCulloch is one of three private sector members on the nine-strong board of Fusion Assets. The others are: Jane Wood, head of public affairs in Scotland for Boots, who chairs the board, and David Gebbie, formerly a director with Clydeport.

Campbell says each of the private sector directors brings a certain skill. "Ken brings great entrepreneurial flair and an ability to think creatively, Jane brings media and retail experience and knowledge of CSR issues and David is a property expert," he says.

Boots has a presence on the board because it has contributed £3.6 million to Fusion Assets. It is the company putting its money where its mouth is on a promise not to abandon North Lanarkshire after the company closed a cosmetics plant in Airdrie in 2005 with the loss of 1000 jobs. Fusion also received backing, both financial and in land, from SE Lanarkshire and North Lanarkshire Council.

Campbell has started work at Fusion with fairly modest means - no support staff as yet (though he expects to hire a PA soon), a small office, around £5m to invest and a modest three and a half acres of land on the site of the former Luggie Glen sewage works near Bargeddie, now rebranded as Drumpellier Business Park.

It does not sound like much, but Campbell says this is just the start and that it will provide 70,000sqft of business space. More projects will follow.

Business space in or near towns in North Lanarkshire is at a premium. The Airdrie Business Centre, where Campbell is based, opened in August 2006 offering 38 offices, and most have been snapped up by local businesses. "This was the council's first business park development in a long while," Campbell says.

He has already forged links with developers such as CALA Properties which has demonstrated an interest in the area. CALA paid £65m last month in a joint venture deal with Bank of Scotland to acquire the Brandon shopping centre in Motherwell.

Campbell cites evidence of significant money flowing into developments in the area, from the £1 billion redevelopment of the former Ravenscraig steel works site to wealthy private investors committing £330m to an ambitious redevelopment plan for Eurocentral.

"I am talking to Tesco too about potential partnership working. They've got consent for a new Tesco Extra store at Wishaw and they're moving out of the old one," he adds.

Campbell was headhunted for his post at Fusion Assets, having established a reputation for brokering property deals and being persuasive when it comes to getting new partners on board.

He describes his major career achievement to date as tying up a deal with Celtic Football Club which saw the club move its training facilities from the east end of Glasgow to Lennoxtown in East Dunbartonshire, bringing an investment of £10m to the area.

He achieved this in his previous role with the NHS, which included being special adviser to the Lennoxtown Initiative. "Adidas has a strapline for one of its clothing lines which says, Impossible is Nothing.' I really believe it's true. Who'd have guessed five years ago that Celtic would relocate training facilities to a village of 4000 people at the foot of the Campsies?" he says.

Campbell has an unusual background, having spent seven years as a Church of Scotland minister with his own parish in Paisley before deciding he wanted to change direction.

"My parish ministry work wasn't fulfilling my aspirations and ambitions - that's a pretty good signal to get out because that is not what it's supposed to be about. I felt I needed something more to be fulfilled professionally," he says.

He says swapping a dog collar for a shirt and tie is not easy. It requires a prospective employer to take a leap of faith in a person's abilities and skills.

Campbell received useful tips from a former minister who became a human resources executive with Caterpillar, but he says the man who changed his life by giving him a start in business world was Tim Davison, then in charge of what was to become the Greater Glasgow Community and Mental Health Trust.

"Tim took a chance on me and it transformed my life," Campbell says.

He began in an administrative role, acting as secretary to the board at a time when the trust embarked on an ambitious modernisation programme.

It involved the closure of big mental health institutions such as Leverndale, Gartloch and Woodilee and a shift to community-based care. The changes led to a major property disposal programme and Campbell found his forte in leading property negotiations, releasing capital for new investment.

It involved forging links with private sector partners including housebuilders CALA, Miller, Redrow and Persimmon which invested in 900 homes at Woodilee near Lenzie.

Campbell says affordable housing is one of the attractions of North Lanarkshire for both families and developers. "There's a booming housing market here. It's so much cheaper to buy a house than in Glasgow and the communications links are good," he says.

He acknowledges that the huge Ravenscraig redevelopment plan stoked worries over its effect on other towns in the area, but adds: "You can't see it as casting a big dark shadow over the rest of North Lanarkshire. It's a positive thing, it's bringing money into the area and reclaiming wasted land."

The area has a high proportion of derelict land across its 470 square kilometre territory; Campbell's aim is to leverage as much investment into the area as possible, with Airdrie, Coatbridge, Motherwell and Wishaw identified as priority areas.

"Our success won't be judged by money in the bank, but by money invested into the area in partnership ventures," he says.

Campbell's office contains a metal sculpture of a canoeist riding a huge wave. It is a gift from his daughters and was created by George Parsonage, a lifeboatman who has saved more than 1000 people from drowning in the Clyde.

It is a long time since Campbell's job was saving souls, but he still displays the odd flash of missionary zeal as he embarks on a form of economic salvation in North Lanarkshire.