SCOTLAND'S BIGGEST PR consultancy is set to grow even larger after embarking on the largest recruitment drive since its launch in 2000.

The Big Partnership has hired 11 staff in the past month. Of those, eight recruits will fill new posts and three replace departing employees.

The appointments, which take the agency's headcount to 85, are split across offices in Glasgow, Edinburgh, Aberdeen and Fife.

Founding director Neil Gibson said: "The new recruits are a direct result of a significant increase in new clients since the beginning of the year. Our new business pipeline is stronger than at any time in the past seven years and we expect to make further additions to our team in the next few months."

He said that fee income on new accounts won in March is more than £300,000. It includes UK-wide PR support for the Clydesdale Bank, publishing and radio giant Emap, T-Mobile, Clyde Valley Drilling, smartycars.com and the Senior British Open 2007.

Among the recruits are Standard Life Bank's ex-PR manager Natasha Lobley; Allan Barr, head of corporate affairs at KPMG in Scotland; Katie de Courcy, former account manager at Staniforth PR consultancy in London; Shona Hendry, a press officer with Aberdeen City Council; Pamela Dodds, senior account executive from Linda Young PR; and journalists Graeme Watson from the Lanarkshire Extra and Lauren Meldrum from the Edinburgh Herald and Post.

Observers had wondered how the departure of the third founding director Graham Isdale would affect the growth trajectory at Big. But this latest news suggests it has not had an adverse effect.