Glasgow Business . 11
www.glasgowchamberofcommerce.com City of Glasgow
College takes home top HR award 12
Investment Office developments show strength of city economy
The opening of three speculative office developments in Glasgow is sign of growing confidence in the future of the city economy. Councillor Gordon Matheson,
Leader of Glasgow City Council, hailed the developments at 110 Queen Street, St Vincent Plaza and 1 West Regent Street at the State of the City Economy Conference. Developer BAM Properties
has invested £40.4 million in the Queen Street development, with
a further £9.6 million loan secured from the Scottish Partnership for Regeneration in Urbane Centres (SPRUCE) Fund. Brodies, Scotland’s largest
law firm and a Glasgow Chamber member, has signed up as the first occupier of the development and will occupy the sixth floor and part of the seventh floor of the nine- storey building. St Vincent Plaza is located in a landmark position on St Vincent
Street in Glasgow’s International Financial Services District and will provide 170,000 square feet of Grade A office space on the lower ground, ground and 10 upper floors. The development, which
is projected to have an end of investment value of £70 million, is due to be completed soon and will be able to accommodate around 2,600 employees. 1 West Regent Street is a
10-storey £60 million development
by Mountgrange Real Estate and M&G Real Estate that will offer Grade A office space in the heart of Glasgow near to Queen Street Station. Giraffe, the restaurant and café chain, which has 51 outlets across the UK and Dubai including one at Glasgow’s Silverburn shopping, has been confirmed as the first occupier for 1 West Regent Street. Giraffe will operate from the
ground floor of the development.
Economy
Glasgow’s special year a base camp towards future
Glasgow’s economic performance in 2014 was a “base camp” from which the city can climb higher, according to City Council Leader Gordon Matheson. Councillor Matheson told
the State of the City Economy Conference in November: “For me 2014 was never an end in itself, however exciting and economically positive it has been. “Te Year of Glasgow is our
new base camp. It’s not the summit of our ambition. Te job for all of us is to exploit the myriad opportunities that a year like this present. And to make sure our businesses and all of our citizens benefit in the long term. I’m determined to do exactly that.” He said that 2015 would be a
year “packed full of economic activity and major events”. It would include the World
Gymnastics Championship: 10 days of competition broadcast to millions of people across the globe when the city would host 500 gymnasts from 80 countries. Tis year will also see Glasgow
hosting the World IPC Swimming Championships, European Judo Championships and the Davis Cup.
FIND OUT MORE...
Read about the reasons Glasgow is an economic powerhouse on pages 30-33.
Entertainment The SSE Hydro is a world beater
The SSE Hydro in Glasgow has been ranked as the world’s second busiest music venue – just 15 months after it opened.
The 13,000 capacity city venue was pipped to the number one
City index
Glasgow is ranked well ahead of London, Liverpool and Birmingham in a city index that measures the performance of cities.
Glasgow ahead of major UK cities in new ranking Te factors looked at include
shows Glasgow on a par with Manchester and Leeds. Te report measures the
Te Good Growth for Cities
Index, produced by accountants PwC and think tank Demos,
performance of 39 of the UK’s largest cities against a basket of 10 categories defined by the public as key to economic success and personal and family wellbeing.
jobs, health, income, skills, work-life balance, house prices, travel-to-work times and pollution. Glasgow was 25th in this third
annual Good Growth for Cities index rankings.
spot by the O2 Arena in London, according to industry publication Polestar.
The honour has come as the
Hydro has unveiled a packed programme of events and concerts
for the year ahead, including One Direction, Sir Elton John, Take That, Taylor Swift, Morrissey, Paloma Faith, Slipknot, Nick Manaj, Kevin Bridges, John Legend and the X Factor Live tour.
The SSE Hydro (picture courtesy of Marc Turner)
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