Director’s Blog: January-February 2025
Following on from a productive 2024 we have another big year ahead of us with much to look forward to and a number of major initiatives to progress.
At only four weeks into 2025, we have already celebrated our first success with the announcement that Glasgow City Region has been chosen as one of four areas across the UK to take part in a new UK Government initiative which connects regions with central government and industry expertise to support them to unlock private investment opportunities and boost local growth.
The National Wealth Fund will trial Strategic Partnerships in Glasgow City Region as well as in Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire and the West Midlands.
The partnerships will provide hands-on support with tailored commercial and financial advice to help regions develop and secure long-term investment opportunities. The initiative aims to play a key role in unlocking investment across sectors such as technology, manufacturing, and green energy. It will put local knowledge and leadership at the forefront, with tailored strategies for each region, ensuring investment matches local needs and drives sustainable growth
This is a fantastic start to 2025 and a great opportunity for us to work closely with UK Government colleagues.
However, our focus for this year will continue to be on securing a Glasgow City Region Devolution Deal, ensuring we are on an equal footing with other UK regions, most of which now have new Deals in place with extensive funding and further local powers.
This year, following agreement with Government, we will launch the Region’s new Investment Zone with a programme of ambitious projects that will further boost our Innovation economy, and a supporting Skills programme. An announcement on the sectors of focus should be made soon.
In the first part of 2025 we will also bring forward details of formal structures to strengthen how we collectively drive forward and support our thriving Innovation economy, along with more detailed plans around how we will deliver the Region’s Innovation Action Plan with key partners.
We look forward to Government approval of our formal City Deal Gateway Review and the release of the £300 million second tranche of funding.
This month we will bring more detailed proposals to Cabinet for the new £65 million City Deal project which aligns to priority actions to address economic challenges identified within the Region’s Economic Strategy.
The new project will grow the amount of quality commercial space across the Region by providing funding for new commercial space or to refurbish and make existing spaces fit-for-purpose. The project is being supported by a recent study we commissioned to understand whether Glasgow City Region employment and commercial land and property is fit-for-purpose to meet demand over the next 10 years. The full study covers employment property and land; retail; employment property energy efficiency; and vacant and derelict land.
City Deal milestones in the year ahead include the start of works at Exxon in West Dunbartonshire, completion of the Renfrew Bridge and work kicking off on a number of Glasgow’s Avenues projects including George Square. In South Lanarkshire, work will start on East Kilbride town centre and at Inverclyde’s Inverkip works will open up a massive site for 600 new housing units.
Over in East Renfrewshire, we will see the completion of Aurs Road and work commencing on the new Railway Station. This year the first phase of formal engagement with industry stakeholders on the City Deal funded Metro case for investment will begin.
We will continue to see further progress across the Regional Economic Strategy programmes.
Consultants will be appointed to take forward the Regional Electric Vehicle Charging network and scope locations for the 3,000 new charge points.
This month we celebrate Glasgow City Region Retrofit week and we will share the Region’s new Retrofit Strategy.
Local councils have a key role to play in supporting UK and Scottish Government targets for net zero. The retrofitting of homes to make them more energy efficient and of course to tackle fuel poverty is a vital part of that.
The Climate Emergency was declared in 2019. However, in the time since then, we have not seen a significant increase in funding from government to deliver retrofit activity.
We know that to meet national net zero targets will require retrofitting of GCR homes at an unprecedented scale and pace.
An independent study we commissioned in 2021concluded that approximately half of Regional domestic properties (428,000) are below EPC C and will require retrofit interventions. And additionally, to bring all 886,000 properties across Glasgow City Region up to net zero standard would require upwards of £20 Billion of investment.
In the absence of a clear national mission to deliver retrofit at scale, we have worked across our eight councils to create a GCR Home Retrofit Strategy and Action Plan which we will discuss as part of the Retrofit Action Week.
This sets out practical steps that can make a difference. It also highlights areas where Scottish Government can act to improve delivery including looking at flexibility around existing funding, providing a comprehensive package of funding and finance to support retrofit delivery, and establishing a more comprehensive one-stop-shop to improve the customer journey and support homeowners along the retrofit pathway.
Last week was National Productivity Week and the spotlight was on how regions can drive economic growth and improve quality of life through enhanced productivity. This is particularly relevant since we have an ambition to become the UK’s most productive city region by 2030.
Our Intelligence Hub issued a briefing on the subject of Productivity – based on analysis by the team over the past five years on our Productivity challenges. The briefing compares GCR with better performing city regions, highlights key factors behind our lagging performance and explores strategies to bridge the gap.
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