THE return of Connect Music Festival is gathering pace with a new home for the three-day event now secured.

The Royal Highland Centre has been announced as the venue for the newest addition to Scotland's festival calendar, which will take place on August 26-28.

The site, located on the outskirts of Edinburgh, has been selected by organisers DF Concerts due to both its rural feel and the ability to make the event as accessible as possible for festival goers from across the country.

Geoff Ellis, DF Concerts & Events CEO, said: "We are delighted to be announcing the Royal Highland Centre as our new festival home for Connect today.

"During initial planning discussions around the relaunch of Connect, we realised that we had to make some changes and to remaster the original festival proposition for today's audiences.

"One of the biggest considerations we had was around public transport and ensuring the event was accessible to festival goers from across the country.

"The Royal Highland Centre provides a purpose-built event site that is readily accessible by public transport for each of the three days.

"This not only makes it easy for festival goers to attend but hugely supports our ambition to deliver a more sustainable festival now and into the future."

Connect is an entirely new festival experience but retains many of the qualities and ethos of its namesake from 2007 and 2008.

Organisers say it will feature the best in "leftfield talent" from grassroots through to the award-winning headliners.

A "plethora" of bands, DJs, artists, performers, spoken word, visual arts and installations are being promised as well as "culinary delights and crafted drinks from local artisans".

This version of Connect will not be a traditional camping event, although there will be a limited number of luxury, boutique camping structures such as bell tents and more – along with a number of onsite hotels within walking distance.

Katt Lingard, festival manager, adds: "One of the biggest attractions of our new home, is the site's permanent infrastructure and existing facilities. These play a crucial role in realising our sustainability ambitions for the festival.

"Although we are still very much in the planning stages, Connect's audience will be at the heart of both its content and design.

"We are so excited to welcome our guests, showing them everything that Connect has to offer – from incredible artists and entertainment to our focus on wellness and the arts, all served alongside a fabulous range food and drink."

The first line-up announcements will be made this week, with fans able to sign up for pre-sale tickets at connectmusicfestival.com.

General sale will begin on Friday, February 25, at 9am.

Ellis continues: "The team have worked tremendously hard to bring together a fantastic music line-up that is worthy of the Connect name and we can't wait to share that with everyone this week. Watch this space!"