Glasgow Business . 19
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Will Whitehorn, Chairman of the SECC and SSE Hydro, on how a ‘proper vision’ will help the city fulfil its potential
GLASGOW NEEDS TO BUILD ON ITS ASSETS FOR A GREAT FUTURE
I
f Glasgow builds on its assets, it will have a great future, according to Will Whitehorn, Chairman of the SECC and the SSE Hydro, at a recent Glasgow Talk. Mr Whitehorn outlined the reasons for the
venue’s success and gave the audience insights into his experiences as a long-time senior player in Richard Branson’s Virgin Group. He said that the SSE Hydro had become
the world’s second-busiest entertainment venue – to the O2 Arena in London – within two years of opening. It was an example of geting things right on
procurement with the building of the SSE Hydro being brought in “prety much on time and on budget”. Mr Whitehorn said he was a strong believer
in “Kelly’s Rules”, the 14 principles applied by the eponymous Lockheed Martin aircraſt designer at the company’s “Skunk Works” during and aſter World War Two, an approach that had been applied to the SSE Hydro. Key to the approach, Whitehorn explained,
was focusing work on a small, carefully chosen project team that retains responsibility for different aspects, with additional contractors carrying out particular practical parts of the project. Mr Whitehorn said that the development
of the SSE Hydro was one of the reasons that Glasgow “of all the cities in Scotland” had the opportunity to really take itself forward. If the city built on its assets, it could have a
great future. Key to that was having a proper vision for developing itself. Tat said, he highlighted the rise of the Finnieston area with its restaurants and nightlife, which was an example of a success story that was “not part of the grand plan”, but which had come about because of the success of the SSE Hydro. Will Whitehorn drew on his experience
with Virgin to pose the question: “What do tourism visitors want when they come to Glasgow?” Te answer, he said, was “everything”. Te SSE Hydro had been a success, the Riverside Museum had been a success, but historically there had not been enough variety – not a wide enough diversity of offering.
Mr Whitehorn also suggested that Glasgow
and Edinburgh should be “joined at the hip” on tourism, working and collaborating much more closely together. Asked in the question and answer session
following his talk about the future of big events in Glasgow, he said that most predictions would, as usual, be wrong. He cited the predictions that had been made about the death of cinema when access to wide-ranging entertainment at home became available and said that big screen entertainment would be with us for some time to come. He added that similarly, contrary to
predictions, high-quality communications and
social media wouldn’t kill off large-scale exhibitions and conferences, as people increasingly felt the need to network, meet and socialise with colleagues in the same sectors. Glasgow, he said, had to able to give them the right places to meet to continue its success. Mr Whitehorn reflected on his 25 years
at Virgin, including the challenge of the company taking over a “shocking system” on the West Coast Main Line and turning it into a success. “What you see today versus then is incomparable,” he said. He told the audience on Virgin Atlantic
that “Richard’s vision was that value and quality can be done together”.
Will Whitehorn, left, with Stuart Patrick
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