Cities Alliance pitches £7.5bn of investments

The Scottish Cities Alliance (SCA) will attend the UK’s leading real estate event MIPIM UK next week to tell UK and foreign investors that it has a £7.5 billion portfolio of investment-ready opportunities across Scotland.

The Alliance, a collaboration of the Scottish Government and Scotland’s seven cities — Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Perth and Stirling — said is actively working to attract investment, stimulate economic activity and create business growth.

The MIPIM UK event to be held October 19-21 at Olympia London is expecting investors from all around the world including delegations from the US, Canada, Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore as well as key players from the UK property industry.

MIPIM UK is the largest domestic exhibition and conference for property professionals with 4,000 participants, providing a marketplace for UK players and international investors to meet, discuss projects and opportunities and to do business.

The SCA said it will present its £7.5 billion of investor-ready opportunities at the UK Government/Department for International Trade stand, take part in a panel discussion on tackling regeneration in UK cities, and have discussions on how Scottish cities are looking at innovative financial models to de-risk opportunities for hotel investors.

Councillor Andrew Burns, chair of the Scottish Cities Alliance, said: “The Alliance has brought in £80 million to the Scottish economy, and we hope to build on this success at MIPIM UK with the Scottish Cities Alliance’s new Pitch Book detailing £7.5 billion worth of potential investments across the seven cities.

“The benefit of this unique partnership is cemented by this success and I am sure that Scotland’s cities will continue to be seen as a global investor’s destination of choice.”

Some of the projects the SCA will discuss with investors at MIPIM UK 2016 include:

  • Aberdeen City Centre: A masterplan designed to revitalise public transport and pedestrian links in the city. The Station Gateway forms an important part of that plan and will improve public transport, cycling and pedestrian connectivity around the station.
  • E-park Aberdeen: A commercial mixed-use 60 hectare development. Located near the airport, the first phase started earlier this year, which will include an exhibition and conference centre, three hotels and an energy centre. Its due for completion in late 2018.
  • Dundee: New station and V&A Museum. The first V&A Museum of Design to be built in the UK outside of London is underway in Dundee and is due for completion in 2018. The city is also working closely with Network Rail to deliver a new station.
  • Inverness and Highland City-Region Deal: A £1 billion investment, positioning the area as a region of digital opportunity. This will play a significant role in securing long term productivity and economic growth.
  • £100 million Inverness Campus: A 14.5 hectare plot comprising of 17 development sections providing a range of investment opportunities across a number of sectors including health, creative industries, energy and business services.
  • Stirling: Grow on Space — the development of 10,000m2, comprising a new high quality office space particularly suitable for SME businesses at Forthside, Stirling’s 40-acre waterfront development.
  • Stirling Digital Hub: The city has plans to deliver 4,099m2 of dynamic, inspiring and collaborative space for businesses, students and academia in the historic municipal buildings in the heart of the city.
  • Edinburgh International Business Gateway: IBG is a strategic development adjacent to Edinburgh Airport to the west of Scotland’s capital city. The IBG extends to 105 hectares and current masterplans show some 232,000m2 of high quality business space, hotels capable of housing 1,410 bedrooms and 2,350 residential units split between build for sale, build for rent and affordable homes.
  • The Edinburgh BioQuarter: a major biomedical, medical and science research campus adjacent to the Royal Infirmary of Edinburgh and University of Edinburgh Medical School. BioQuarter offers scope for significant further development of up to 230,000m2 of life sciences space plus 46,000m2 of ancillary space.
  • Glasgow Harbour: Situated on the banks of the River Clyde and the River Kelvin, Glasgow Harbour has a unique waterfront location just minutes from the city centre and is one of the UK’s largest waterfront regeneration projects. The 52 hectare (130 acre) integrated development, with an investment value of over £1.2 billion offers a wide range of commercial, office, residential and leisure development and occupational opportunities.
  • Glasgow Collegelands: An extension of Glasgow’s Merchant City, Collegelands sits on the corners of High Street and Duke Street. Located in a mixed use quarter close to the University of Strathclyde, the City of Glasgow College and the Glasgow Royal Infirmary. Phase 2 has already commenced with significant development opportunities exist for office, retail, restaurant and café space, hotel, residential and a student village.
  • Perth: PH20 Perth Food and Drink Park will strengthen the food and drink sector in Scotland through the provision of serviced development land and business support facilities.
  • Perth Broxden Development: The development site at Broxden Business Park comprises 4.05 hectares of consented class 4 commercial land. Located adjacent to the main junction of the A9, M9 and M90 motorway network and six minutes by car from Perth City Centre.