Clyde Mission will transform a riverside corridor running from Glasgow city centre to the sea, spanning an area of 1,000 hectares, drawing together ambitious initiatives for green transport and renewable energy and freeing up large tracts of land in key locations for development.
The project will build on and elevate extensive progress in the area and work underway funded by the £1 billion City Deal to re-connect disconnected communities, decontaminate large tracts of ex-industrial sites along the banks, and to provide better active transport links and the enabling infrastructure for the Region’s three emerging Innovation districts which are of national significance and which fall within the corridor.
A number of new bridges are planned or in progress. A bridge at Govan will provide a link over the river for the emerging Glasgow Riverside Innovation District corridor, and bring together two currently distinct communities and unlock the development potential of vacant and derelict sites for jobs and housing. The project will also enhance clustering and stimulate growth in the Life Science and Higher Education sectors.
The Financial Services sector, crucial to Glasgow and the wider Region’s rebirth and resilience in recent years, will have a further boost with the build completion this year for the most significant inward investment ever made in Scotland. The new Barclays campus in Glasgow will bring 2,500 new jobs and breathe new life into an area south of the river which despite its proximity to the city centre has suffered through de-industrialisation with the loss of much of its population and economic base.
A high-tech district heating system extracting heat from the river water is operational in Clydebank and will be expanded.
Climate change and rising sea levels increase the risk of flooding along sections of the banks. An engineering solution in the form of a tidal barrage would protect land and generate clean energy, contributing to making the Clyde more usable and developable.
Glasgow City Region is working in partnership with the Scottish Government on plans for Mission Clyde which could support a green recovery for the Region and be a driver for a genuine economic recovery in the rest of Scotland.
