Four enterprise areas comprising 14 strategic sites are to be created in Scotland. The Scottish Government’s aim is to focus on “dynamic industries with the greatest potential to create new employment opportunities, stimulate private investment and boost economic growth”.
Finance Secretary John Swinney announced the 14 sites while on a visit to Glaxosmithkline in Irvine this afternoon (17 January).
The Glaxosmithkline site will form part of the Life Sciences Enterprise Area. Scotland's life sciences industries have an annual turnover of £3 billion and Irvine will be joined by sites in Moray, the Highlands, Edinburgh and Midlothian.
There are two proposed Enterprise Areas for Low Carbon and Renewables. The Renewable Energy Enterprise East Area will comprise the Port of Dundee and the Port of Leith, while the Renewable Energy Enterprise North Area will focus on Hatson and Lyness in Orkney, Arnish in the Western Isles and Nigg and Scrabster in the Highlands.
The fourth Enterprise Area will cover other manufacturing and growth sector opportunities. It will encompass Creative Clyde in Glasgow and Prestwick International (aerospace).
Although the locations are now established, the Scottish Government has not yet announced the incentives that will be offered to encourage private investment at each of the sites in the Enterprise Areas.
John Swinney said: "We have worked closely with our enterprise agencies to select sites which can exploit opportunities in growth sectors and, in many cases, these will help create jobs in areas of Scotland that are facing challenging economic conditions. They represent the strategic locations in our key sectors with clear, achievable opportunities for development in the short term.
He argues that this sectoral approach will make better use of resources, targeting investment where it will be most effective. It will also build on Scotland’s current momentum in life sciences, renewables and the creative sector.
Swinney said: "Incentives available will depend on characteristics of each site and these may include reduced business rates. We have agreed a planning protocol with COSLA which will encourage key parties, including developers, local authorities, Scottish Government and Agencies to work together in a streamlined planning process.
"In addition, we will consider opportunities presented by the emerging National Broadband Strategy to help make Enterprise Areas as attractive as possible to investors, whilst Scotland Development International will provide inward investment assistance.”
The aim is to have Scotland's Enterprise Areas operational from April. Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) will work with the relevant local authorities and the business community to maximise the economic value of each site."
Carroll Buxton, HIE's director of regional development, said: "Enterprise Areas are about making things happen faster. In the Highlands and Islands the initiative is targeting growth sectors, particularly renewable energy and life sciences, where there is considerable potential to create new jobs and economic growth across the region.”
HIE is ready to support investors to maximise the advantage of early development at the sites in the Highlands & Islands.
Jim McFarlane, Scottish Enterprise’s managing director of operations, welcomed the focus on manufacturing, announcing that the designated areas will “offer significant potential to stimulate and deliver new jobs in some of Scotland's leading industry sectors”.
He also argued that Enterprise Area status will enhance each location's offering, giving them a competitive edge in a challenging investment environment.
Welcoming the choice of Irvine as a location, David Pulman, GlaxoSmithKline’s president of global manufacturing and supply, said that the focus on life sciences demonstrates the commitment of the Scottish Government to support growth in “this vibrant and important sector”.
Want to know more? Here's details of the 4 Enterprise areas and 14 sites:
1. Life Sciences Enterprise Area
Irvine (N Ayrshire) - covers 3 co-located sites and a total area of 86 hectares:
i3 Irvine Innovation and Industry Park (formerly Riverside Business Park). This site is a strategic 200 acre fully serviced, single user inward investment site - the largest in the North of the UK.
Annickbank. This site has full site infrastructure in place for an office park development of 9,000 m2 expansion land at GSK Irvine.
Forres (Moray) - This 10 hectare site offers a strong opportunity to build on the cluster of expertise in the P4 Digital Healthcare (Predictive, Preventative, Personalised and Participatory) sector which has developed along the Inverness-Elgin corridor, the sector having expanded from 50 to 80 active businesses between 2009 and 2011.
Inverness Campus (Highland) - a 5 hectare site which is part of a larger site housing the University of the Highlands and Islands, the Centre for Health Science and the Scottish Agricultural College, the site will provide opportunities in research and development as well as in the provision of incubation units.
BioQuarter (Edinburgh) - flagship life sciences site in Scotland which offers manufacturing as well as research and development opportunities at the 20 hectare site. It is also located adjacent to Parc Craigmillar URC and will reinforce the wider regeneration efforts for that section of Edinburgh.
Biocampus (Midlothian) - a 9 hectare site which is unique in that it supports possibilities for large scale biomanufacturing activity and will complement the activity undertaken at Edinburgh BioQuarter. The site also presents opportunities to diversify the local economy into high value adding sectors and away from the reliance in recent years on mining and other primary industries.
2. Low Carbon / Renewables North Enterprise Area
Hatston (Orkney) - this 5 hectare site was identified as a National Renewables Infrastructure Plan Marine Site. Construction of six workshop units is underway and there are potential agglomeration benefits when considered together with Lyness and Scrabster.
Arnish (Outer Hebrides) located in Lewis this is the only industrial site of scale (50 hectares) in the Outer Hebrides. It offers short-term opportunities in off-shore wind generation and medium to long term opportunities in wave generation and was identified in N-NIP as an integrated manufacturing site.
Nigg (Highland) - this site, identified as a strategic location for integrated manufacturing in National Renewables Infrastructure Plan, has recently been purchased by Global Energy Group who intend to develop the site as a service hub for the energy industry. The Enterprise Area site is 50 hectares.
Scrabster (Highland) - identified as a priority site in the Northern Marine cluster by the National Renewables Infrastructure Plan this 5 hectare site is ideally situated on the Pentland Firth to take advantage of wave and tidal opportunities. There are potential agglomeration benefits when considered in combination with Hatston and Lyness. The site aims to support marine energy projects planned for the South of Orkney and in the Pentland Firth.
Lyness (Orkney) - a key National Renewables Infrastructure Plan marine site which is currently being developed to support the assembly, storage and servicing on marine energy devices, this 5 hectare site offers agglomeration benefits when considered along with Hatston and Scrabster. The site is a deep harbour facility located within Scapa Flow, which is a perfect location for the wet storage of marine devices and can be used to assemble, test, fix and repair marine energy devices.
3. Low Carbon / Renewables East Enterprise Area
Dundee Port (Dundee) - a key renewables site identified within National Renewables Infrastructure Plan there is currently strong demand from manufacturing companies in the site.
Leith (Edinburgh) - providing uninterrupted access to the Forth estuary and North Sea, this is a key National Renewsables Infrastructure Plan site which offers significant opportunities to develop an offshore wind sector supply chain, especially as the 60 hectare site is the largest potential development area across all Scottish east coast ports.
4. General Manufacturing and Growth Sectors Enterprise Area
Creative Clyde (Glasgow) - a 14 hectare site based at Pacific Quay offering opportunities for creative industries. This will build on the success of the Digital Media Quarter which in the last 10 years has attracted Headquarter functions for Scottish Television and BBC Scotland among others to Pacific Quay.
Prestwick International (S Ayrshire) - the vast majority of the Scottish aerospace industry, including the high value adding space manufacturing sector, is based in the west of Scotland with Prestwick accommodating 12 companies in the sector.
