August-September Director’s Blog: Further Regional Funding Secured for Innovation and Progress with City Deal and Economic Strategy Delivery
The last month has brought a wave of further positive developments for Glasgow City Region. From a major new UK Government funding initiative to support local innovation, to continued delivery across our City Deal programme, the Region is making strides toward a more prosperous, connected, sustainable and inclusive future for our 2 million residents.
Unlocking Innovation with £30 million UK Government Investment
Just last month we were delighted to announce that the Region has been selected as one of three UK cities and Regions to secure at least £30 million each in UK Government funding to unlock local innovation. This significant investment will support the development of new technologies, boost productivity and help local businesses scale and thrive in our booming innovation economy.
The funding recognises the Region’s strengths in advanced manufacturing, clean tech and life sciences and will be delivered through Innovate UK.
Along with our pilot Innovation Accelerator and the Investment Zone status, this is a further vote of confidence in our innovation ecosystem and a clear signal that Glasgow City Region is a national leader in turning ideas into impact.
Work is now underway to discuss the opportunity with colleagues across our eight council areas and to start to shape our proposal, ensuring that the investment delivers tangible outputs with the biggest impact and has reach across the whole of the Region.
City Deal Progress
Momentum continues across our £1.13 billion City Deal, with several exciting updates this month:
- A £4.4 million funding boost will help regenerate the historic Meat Market site and sheds in Glasgow’s East End, preserving heritage while creating a flexible site with sports facilities, a bistro, event space, a learning centre and an enterprise incubator to support small businesses.
- In East Renfrewshire, ground was broken on the new £18.3 million Balgray Station in Barrhead. This transformative project will improve connectivity and support sustainable travel. Details here
- The second phase of Byres Road public realm improvements is set to begin, enhancing one of Glasgow’s most iconic streets with better pedestrian access, landscaping and active travel infrastructure.
- Work continues on the Argyle Street Avenue project, part of the wider Avenues programme, which is transforming city centre streets into greener, more people-focused spaces. These projects are central to our vision for a more sustainable and inclusive Region.
Cabinet at Glasgow Airport: Annual Report and Strategic Updates
Last month’s City Region Cabinet meeting was hosted at Glasgow Airport, a fitting location given our ambitions for connectivity and international reach.
Cabinet was updated on ambitious investment plans for the Region’s airport and considered our latest Annual Performance Report, which highlights the impact of our work across the City Deal and the projects under our Regional Economic Strategy.
Our performance report showcases the significant progress made by our partnership of eight councils and the considerable amount of funding and investment the Region is drawing, even in the past 12 months, and how this is translating into better connectivity, more new homes and jobs and work to support local businesses.
We have created a short animation to showcase some of the key highlights over the past year.
Progress was also discussed on our £160 million Investment Zone and on plans for the Region’s Electric Vehicle Charging Infrastructure project which will deliver over 3,000 new charge points, supporting our net zero ambitions and making low-carbon travel more accessible.
Latest Intelligence Hub Briefing
Our latest Intelligence Hub Economic Briefing covers a variety of subjects including a University Graduate Destination analysis, the publication of the UK Industrial Strategy and the Centre for Cities’ report on High Street Performance.
The latest macroeconomic trends, published up to May 2025, indicated slight improvements to Scotland’s GDP and labour market in the face of increasing inflation. In addition to this, a summary of the Resolution Foundation’s report on the Employment Rights Bill highlights that up to 13,100 zero-hour contract workers in GCR may benefit from the some of the proposed measures.
Analyses of the Region’s graduate destinations found that the majority of students who study within the Region go on to work within the Region. However lower levels of gradate retention have been observed in subjects aligned to our innovation clusters and the prioritised industries within the UK Industrial Strategy. Establishing how the Region creates a sustainable supply of skilled graduates into these significant industries will be investigated by the Intelligence Hub as they conduct a review into how the Region’s labour market operates.
The quality of the UK’s high streets was examined by the Centre for Cities to understand the difference in performance throughout the UK. The report noted that high streets with food / leisure amenities and large catchments typically attract the visitor economy and a higher proportion of spend from residents. Glasgow performed well throughout the analyses, placing in the top 10 high streets for catchment size, cuisine offering, and proportionate Regional spending within its own high street.
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