10 . Glasgow Business April 2015


New business Jim McColl hopes for job boost at Ferguson Shipyard


Jim McColl said he hoped the workforce at the Ferguson Shipyard could rise to about 400 amid increased enquiries for the Clyde yard since his company took it over. Mr McColl told a Glasgow Talks


Jim McColl, Founder, Chairman and CEO, Clyde Blowers Capital


audience that they should know within a few weeks whether the yard had won a tender for two 100-metre


Investment Partnerships


Universities expand


The University of Strathclyde has begun to use its £90 million Technology Innovation Centre (TIC) in George Street with the first alumni event having taken place there in March. The University’s latest state-


of-the-art building, the TIC is a hub for world-leading research aimed at transforming the way academics, business, industry and the public sector work in partnership. Meanwhile, the University of


Glasgow is to set up a new base in the east end of the city. Some of the University’s research teams will relocate from the west end campus to the Olympia Building in Bridgeton.


Strategy District plan


A new strategy has been developed for Glasgow city centre that sees the area divided into nine districts, each with their own clear identity. 7N Architects developed


the strategy, which focuses on streets and public spaces, as a “means of actively implementing local initiatives that respond to immediate context as well as contribute toward the wider city strategy.”


The districts are Sauchiehall,


Cowcaddens, Blythswood, Townhead, Central, Learning Quarter, Merchant City, Broomielaw and St Enoch.


Merchant Square sold to Strathclyde Fund


»Plans include investing in key areas within the region M


erchant Square and four other units in the Merchant City have been sold in a


£9.5 million deal. Te destination was sold along


with restaurant and nightspots Khublai Khans, Guy’s, Merchant Pride and Wild Cabaret. Merchant City Properties sold


the assets, which will now be part of the Clydebuilt Fund that is owned by the Strathclyde Pension Fund and managed by property developer Ediston Real Estate. Dating back to the 1800s,


Merchant Square is housed in part of Glasgow’s Old Fruitmarket, and since being revamped in 1999 the indoor venue has become a


Office space 30 per cent increase in city office deals


The number of office deals in Glasgow city centre rose by more than 30 per cent in 2014. Figures from Glasgow Chamber member JLL (formerly Jones Lang LaSalle) show 129 transactions in the year compared to 99 in 2013 with around 643,442 square feet of office space taken throughout the


whole year. The value of the space increased with a headline city centre rent of £29 per square foot. Across Greater Glasgow and the


west, there were 224 deals totalling 1,002,488 square feet. The last quarter of the year saw 41 deals in the city centre, for a total of 181,628 square feet.


Alistair Reid, Director of JLL


in Glasgow, said: “There was a healthy end to the year, fuelled by strong occupier confidence after the referendum. “Supply has again constricted


and has dropped below the 10 per cent vacancy rate. We expect this figure to tighten in Q1 of 2015.”


popular place for eating, drinking and entertainment. Plans are being drawn up to


enhance the properties and bring currently redundant space in Merchant Square back into use. Strathclyde Pension Fund,


which is administered by Glasgow City Council, created the


Clydebuilt Fund to seek opportunities for investing in assets under £10 million across the former Strathclyde region. As well as providing a return


for members, the fund is looking to boost the local economy by making investments in key areas within the region.


long ferries for Caledonian Maritime Assets. He said that Ferguson is on track currently to increase its workforce from the current 80 to 120. The 70-strong workforce when Clyde Blowers Capital took over the yard has already increased to 80 with new managers and naval architects. Mr McColl said that the plan


was for steel fabrication work to be done at a Renfrew site and then transferred to the Ferguson yard. He said that they were looking at opportunities in oil and gas, which he said would be the major focus for the Ferguson’s business in future. Turn to pages 22-23 for details on Jim McColl’s Glasgow Talks event.


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