More Information

Glasgow has a population of over 600,000 and serves the metropolitan area of West Central Scotland, with a population of nearly 2.5 million people. The city provides over 350,000 jobs in over 12,000 companies.

Today, Glasgow's economy is dominated by the service sector with finance and banking, public administration, education, healthcare, hotels, tourism and other business services being prominent.

Nevertheless, the city retains a strong manufacturing sector with strengths in engineering, food and drink, printing, publishing and clothing as well as new growth sectors such as software and biotechnology.

WELCOME TO GLASGOW

Glasgow City Council is recognised for its total commitment to economic development, frequently originating new ideas which have later been adopted by other UK local authorities. This commitment is evident in the key Council objectives already laid down for the 21st century.

Innumerable changes for the good of Glasgow have taken place in the last 10 years. The public and private sectors have combined to alleviate negative legacies from the past and build on the positive to return Glasgow to its former position as one of Europe's leading cities.

Its industrial foundations - which earned it the historic accolade 'workshop of the world' - now support a more sustainable employment base which covers all sectors of industry and commerce. Glasgow's economy is now based on industries which either develop, or apply, new technologies in both the production and service industries.

Investment in new commercial property, improved telecommunication facilities, improved transport infrastructure to access both national and international markets, investment in workforce skills and in the facilities which contribute to a high-quality lifestyle all combine to attract and develop these industries.

The Glasgow of today boasts a complementary mix of traditional industries together with newer technologically-based companies such as telecommunications and software development. Indeed, many of Glasgow's manufacturers still lead the field in their own disciplines in the face of intense international competition.

As well as attractions for business, Glasgow is a popular tourist destination, drawing people keen to sample its architecture, shops, sport and culture. Its location at the gateway to the Scottish Highlands has helped it become one of the top three overseas tourist and visitor destinations in the UK.

Its art galleries, museums and theatres, and its varied programme of arts festivals and other events are a magnet for visitors. Superb conference and exhibition facilities have catapulted Glasgow into the market as one of Europe's main business meeting places. Cultural and artistic excellence is now woven tightly into the fabric of city life.

TRANSPORT

The City's National and International Connections

Glasgow is Scotland's main transportation centre with excellent road, rail and air services. It also has a state-of-the-art telecommunications infrastructure, which has helped to make the city the UK's premier location for all forms of call centre operations.

Travel within Glasgow is also easy with the UK's biggest suburban rail network outside London, and good motorway access, benefiting business, commerce and leisure operators who can draw upon a wide catchment for workers and customers.

This efficient and effective internal internal transport network facilitates access to a pool of more than 600,000 economically active people resident within the local travel-to-work area.

ROAD Glasgow is at the centre of Scotland's motorway network giving direct access to the whole of the UK and easy travel by road to all major destinations throughout the country. The M8 runs through the city connecting north with the M80 and south with the M74 allowing speedy distribution of products and easy access to all the major conurbations in the UK with onward passage to European and international destinations.

RAIL Central Station and Queen Street are the mainline railway stations in Glasgow, providing fast and frequent services to all major UK cities. Glasgow also has its own underground train system providing a quick and efficient way of getting around the city.

Regular rail passenger services bring London, Manchester and Birmingham within easy reach. Brussels and Paris are accessible via the Eurostar service and the nearby Mossend EuroFreight terminal gives local goods and produce immediate access to European markets through the Channel Tunnel.

AIR

Glasgow International Airport, just 15 minutes west of the city centre, is the busiest airport in Scotland and the fourth busiest in the UK after Heathrow, Gatwick and Manchester, handling more than 5.5 million passengers a year.

Air travel, for businesses or holidays, is now become part of normal life for millions of people in Glasgow and Scotland. The airport's facilities have been considerably expanded recently through a £120m investment to meet growing demand.

Over the past 12 months total passenger numbers increased by 9.9% and international traffic by 15%.

The Airport offers hourly flights to London and regular flights to most major UK and European cities and several North American destinations.

DOING BUSINESS IN GLASGOW

Facilities, Venues & Hotels

Glasgow city centre, built on an American-style grid pattern, has benefited from a sustained programme of investment in new office, hotel and retail development over the last ten years - developments woven skilfully into the outstanding Victorian and Edwardian conservation areas which cover most of the city centre.

In a world economy where only 1 in every 6 transactions are traded in goods, and where demand for infotainment and edutainment facilities are increasing, Glasgow is equipping itself for the future.

Recent telecommunications developments give Glasgow outstanding access to the world. Current investment in the city by market leader BT is running at around £2.5 million per week.

Access to the latest digital network via primary rate ISDN is a reality. International direct dialling operates to over 200 countries. National and international freephone facilities from 41 countries are available to Glasgow call centres.

CableTel has 'Networked the City' with fibre-optics bringing the information superhighway to commerce in the city and delivering information and entertainment services to businesses and homes.

Inside Glasgow City Chambers

The building of the Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre and the Royal Concert Hall in the eighties signalled Glasgow's intention to become a major player in the international conference and exhibition world.

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall opened in 1990 to provide a variety of facilities with a main auditorium capable of accommodating well over 2,000 people in sophisticated comfort. The computer-controlled stage can provide 36 different layout, making it suitable not only for concerts and conferences, but sporting occasions too.

The award winning Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC), situated by the River Clyde and within easy access of the city, is the third-largest venue in the UK. It offers 19,000 square metres across five interlinked halls providing flexible space for all kinds of events; trade and industry fairs, product launches, conferences, exhibitions, pop concerts and carnivals.

A further boost to Glasgow's reputation as a business conference and exhibition venue was the opening beside the SECC in 1997 of the Council's £35 million, 3,200-seat Glasgow Conference Centre, affectionately nicknamed "the Armadillo" because of its distinctive and innovative design.

With a full range of meeting rooms and supporting facilities, it is attracting conferences which could not previously come to the UK because of lack of space, bringing thousands more visitors to Glasgow and Scotland every year.

It links directly to both the SECC and the Moat House Hotel, creating an exhibition and conference complex believed to be unique in the UK. An additional 18,000 square metres of exhibition space almost doubles the existing floor space at the SECC.

The first event at the "Armadillo" was the World Congress of the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) which brought 5,000 delegates and a £3m spend. It followed the Rotary International Convention three months earlier which brought 24,000 delegates and a £20m spend to the city.

So important is ASTA that previous conferences have resulted in a 10% to 15% increase in North American visitors over the following five years. It is also one of the most experienced and sophisticated group of visitors.

The verdict - Tom Romano, chairman of the World Travel Congress, reported that "this year's Congress has been by far one of the best travel industry conferences I have ever had the pleasure of attending. "What has truly captured ASTA members has been the wonderful hospitality that Glaswegains have afforded them during their stay. It is the people in this part of Scotland who have helped make this one of the best Congresses ever."

Other recent conferences in the city include the Junior Chamber World Congress, the Ninth European Congress on Intensive Care Medicine, the Rotary International Annual Convention and the Scottish Call Centre Conference. The UK's largest music industry conference, 'In The City', was also held in Glasgow.

Although the Armadillo and the SECC dominate the headlines, they are not the whole of Glasgow's conference business. They are the flagship venues at the head of a very large and varied fleet.

As well as the growing number and range of hotels in the city, two of its universities, Glasgow and Strathclyde, are members of the Scottish Universities Accommodation Consortium, which offers a package of services throughout the year to suit different group sizes.

The City Council's own venues range from the prestigious Glasgow Royal Concert Hall to the picturesque cinema in a period street re-created inside the Transport Museum. A 110 seat auditorium at the Burrell Museum or the wonderful Parish Hall offer alternative venues of character; whilst Glasgow City Chambers offers a variety of meeting rooms of full Victorian splendour.

Rising demand in conference and exhibition business, in event and venue programming, and Glasgow's position as Britain's fastest growing centre for overseas tourism has further boosted the hotel market.

The city's stock of quality hotels in all price ranges has risen dramatically in recent years, with recent newcomers including Glasgow Hilton, Malmaison, Brunswick, Holiday Inn Garden Court, Europa and Charing Cross Tower. Dining out is cosmopolitan in its variety of menus.

RETAIL

The city is the second biggest retail centre in Britain with a vibrant mixture of modern and traditional, ranging from the traditional Barras weekend market, through large department stores and High Street chain stores, to a growing number of high quality designer outlets.

Sauchiehall Street, Argyle Street and Buchanan Street are among the best known shopping streets in the UK. St Enoch Square is a stunning shopping mall, housed under Europe's biggest glass roof.

Princes Square and the Italian Centre are award-winning shopping centres, with exclusive and speciality shops built into light and airy courts in the heart of the commercial area.

The £150m Buchanan Galleries project is the largest city centre shopping development under way in the UK. Hardly surprising then that Glasgow regularly attracts shoppers from overseas as part of weekend shopping and leisure breaks.

GLASGOW'S NEW INDUSTRIES

Over £2 billion has been invested in commercial and retail property creating 10,000 new jobs in the city centre since the beginning of the decade. Behind the facades of Glasgow's magnificent Victorian and Georgian buildings is state-of-the-art, high-tech office accommodation, underlining the trend in the City's shift from the traditional manufacturing to service industries.

New industries are now operating alongside Glasgow's more traditional activities. Among others are a rapidly expanding financial and business services industry, biotechnology, optoelectronics, software, the arts and culture, tourism, and the broadcast and media sectors, all adding to Glasgow's already diverse economy and helping the city to make the transition from one era to another.

In spite of this shift to service industries, Glasgow retains a strong manufacturing base and the City remains the third largest centre in the UK. Engineering and shipbuilding - now highly competitive and highly technically-advanced industries - remain important to the economy of Glasgow with the famous 'Clyde Built' tag still recognised throughout the world.

The City - still the mainstay of Scotland's industrial and commercial economy - has been revitalised by huge injections of capital, transforming a city in industrial decline to one of Europe's leading commercial centres.

Glasgow has been awarded the title of City of Architecture and Design for 1990. Glasgow plans a year long celebration of architecture and design, a new architecture and design centre, a development fund to assist new design initiatives in the city, creating 400 new jobs over six years in companies concerned with design and product development, and promoting new design standards to encourage investment in, and enjoyment of, the city.

The mix of architectural heritage and innovation in design provides a unique backdrop to the city as a place to business.

INVESTING IN GLASGOW

Joining & Thriving Economy

Glasgow is now one of the top-rated European cities for business location. Regeneration coupled with cultural advances has ensured that the city continues to impress as additional top companies choose to relocate in the city.

Ambitious programmes backed up by a strong will to succeed in regenerating the city have led to other British cities embarking on similar schemes, but Glasgow has now laid a firm foundation for further success in the future.

Property investment on a major scale has resulted in many businesses new to Scotland choosing Glasgow as their location.

In the last decade Glasgow has attracted many headquarters operations ranging through various sectors of industry to locate in the city. Some of these are included in detailed case studies are at the end of various chapters.

There are approximately 1,500 companies providing a full range of business and professional services in the centre of Glasgow. These provide comprehensive cover of business activities and include finance and banking, management consultancy, software engineering, recruitment agencies, accountancy practices, legal practices, property agents, advertising agencies, market research services and translation services.

Advances in telecommunications - optical fibre and digital switching and transmission - have greatly increased Glasgow's capability to offer a world-wide communications network. Today, the city offers a fine range of services and equipment from different sources as new operators join the market. As well as BT there are now, Cable Tel and Scottish Power through its subsidiary Scottish Telecom, creating a customer-friendly environment.

Glasgow contains more than 30% of the Scottish software development sector and BAeSEMA and BT Software are among the major software development companies here. Other leaders in research and development have also chosen Glasgow for their location, such as the Weir Group, and Pilkington Optronics (Barr & Stroud).

Research and academic organisations contribute to the private sector development base and The National Computer Centre, The Strathclyde Institute and The Turing Institute, which provides R & D in advanced computing for corporate business, are all located within the city.

University/business partnerships include the West of Scotland Science Park, Strathclyde University Incubator, the Glasgow Software Centre and the Robertson Institute of Biotechnology, which all play a major part in the growth of software development. Academic institutions also contribute to industry by producing around 3,000 graduates qualified in the science and technology fields every year.

Glasgow's three universities and 9 higher education colleges produce more qualified students each year than any other comparable city UK wide. Each year, over 8,000 higher awards and degrees are obtained by graduating students in the city.

Where training may be necessary a range of services and funding packages are available. So finding suitable staff in Glasgow is not a problem, especially with the city currently having an economically active workforce of over 260,000 people - and access to over 800,000 within the greater metropolitan area. Transport in and out of Glasgow is easy with the best road, rail and air links in Scotland.

Massive investment in property in the last ten years leaves Glasgow rich in locations available for all kinds of inward investors' requirements: the special needs of companies developing software Who require specific technological needs.

Glasgow has a large range of office space, from new development sites to existing sites available for conversion Funding should not pose a problem with many financial incentives being available to companies contemplating setting up in business in Glasgow.

Glasgow adopts a straight forward approach to inward investment with a one door approach through the Glasgow Business Location Service Let us look at your proposals and in return we will give an honest appraisal of what Glasgow can offer your company in premises, staff, facilities and finance. This approach has succeeded in putting Glasgow on numerous short-lists with first-class results for all concerned.

Companies are delighted with their new location and the city benefits in economic terms, which in turn increases the attraction of die city to other companies bringing yet further economic benefits for those here and those locating here.

LOCATING IN GLASGOW

Office & Industrial

Demand is increasing within the Glasgow office market, with the upturn witnessed in the latter half of 1996 continuing into the first half of 1997. Lambert Smith Hampton identified just over 40,800 square metres gross of office space being let or sold in the first half of 1997, an increase on the figures for the previous period.

A significant feature of this take-up was that the majority was new property. Lambert Smith Hampton also highlighted a number of lets nearing completion and forecast take-up to increase in the latter half of the year, resulting in an anticipated take-up for the year of around 86,500 square meters.

Available office accommodation in the city at May 1997 stood at 254,523 square metres, a reduction of over 6,000 square metres since November 1996. Available new supply increased by 6,750 square metres as a result of recent completions, but the available supply of second-hand space reduced by 13,400 square metres over the same period.

So while demand has increased slightly, an increasing proportion of demand has been for new space, accounting for over 50% of take-up. And in spite of this increased take-up of new space, the proportion of available supply that is now space has increased as a result of recent completions. This situation is likely to be reversed towards the end of the year as more existing stock becomes available.

Lambert Smith Hampton reported that the first half of the year has been characterised by a gradual return of large City Centre lettings, suggesting a new phase of activity in the property cycle. Significant letting included 3,800 square metres to Scottish Telecom at Cadogan Square, 2,500 square metres to the Eaton Power Corporation at Tay House, 300 Bath Street and 2,500 square meters to the Royal Batik of Scotland in George House, George Square.

Two major office developments have been completed in the City Centre, the £10m development by Unilever at 181-195 West George Street (10,800 square metres) and the £4.0m refurbishment of 59 Waterloo Street (5,900 square metres) by Teesland Development Co.

Three other projects were under construction at March 1997: the £5.1m development by Grosvenor Developments at 176 St Vincent Sine (5,100 square metres), the £8.5m development by Co-op Insurance Society Ltd at 9 George Square (9,500 square meters) and the £14.5m redevelopment of Alhambra House by Friends Provident at 45 Waterloo Street (10,400 square metres).

Six proposals were granted planning consent between September I 996 and March 1997, including a proposal by the Anglo-Irish Bank Corporation for a 21,100 square metres development at Argyle Street/Robertson Street (Argyle Gate), a four-storey office development (10,000 square metres) at McPhater Street/Dunblane Street by Miller Developments and a 21,800 square metres 6 storey office development by Pardev (Broomielaw) Ltd at 17 York Street.

Within the City Centre, seven applications for major office developments were awaiting decision at [lie end of March. These include two alternative proposals for the same building at 105-123 St Vincent Street, by Scottish Mutual Assurance. Both are for an office development behind a retained facade, one creating 18,500 square metres, the other creating 23,000 square meters. Other significant proposals include new build schemes at 105-107 West Regent Street (1,600 square meters) by McTaggart and Mickel Ltd, and at 110 West Nile Street (1,000 square metres) by Robertson and Baxter.

Modern Factories

Non-City Centre office developments are generally of a smaller scale than developments iii the City Centre. There were two developments of over 1,000 square meters gross floorspace completed between September I 996 and March 1997.

These were the redevelopment of the former Westwood Secondary School (2,700 square metres) by the Greater Easterhouse Development Company to form a business centre and the first three units, totalling 4,600 square metres, of Centurion Business Park being developed by Miller Developments at Shields Road/Seaward Street.

Of 23 proposals with planning permission but yet to start at March, the two most recent applications were an outline consent for a Class 4 office development on College Business Park at High Street, and a change of use of the former Teacher Centre at Eldon Street to create 1,400 square metres of office space.

Only two applications were awaiting decision in March: a proposal by Celtic PLC for the part use of the football stadium as offices (3,100 square metres) and a business park proposal (29,000 square metres) by Clydeport at Yorkhill Quay. Ryden reports that the industrial market in the west of Scotland continues to show signs of recovery and demand continues to be focused on Glasgow with well-specified, well-located units close to the City Centre continuing to benefit from an upturn in demand.

Information from Scottish Property Network reveals that, at March 1997, 368 vacant industrial premises were being marketed in the City, providing 250,740 square metres of floorspace. Almost 74% of the available units were smaller than 500 square meters, with just over 2% in larger units greater than 5,000 square metres.

The increase in development activity experienced during 1995 has continued into 1997. Between March and September 1996, 15 developments were completed, 14 of them developments of new premises and only one an extension to existing premises.

Cambuslang Investment Park

The new premises developed included managed workshop units (4,400 square metres) at Lettoch Street/Kellas Street, by Govan Initiative Ltd, three light industrial units (2,400 square metres) at Whitefield Street by Portal Holdings (Scotland) Ltd and an engineering, manufacturing and production unit (2,000 square metres) at Cambuslang Investment Park by Walker Precision Engineering Ltd.

Ten developments were under construction during the same period. These included food processing arid distribution premises (1,100 square metres) at the M8 Foodpark for P & C Morris Ltd, two distribution warehouses (4,000 square metres) at Cambuslang Investment Park by Glynwed Properties Ltd and an 8,875 square metres extension to Premier Houseware's distribution warehouse at Jordanvale Avenue.

EMPLOYING IN GLASGOW

Available Labour & Skills

The metropolitan area of Glasgow has a population of 1.5 million, of which over 600,000 live in the city. More bin 300,000 people work in Glasgow and a further 500,000 elsewhere in the West of Scotland. Within the city 80% of jobs are in industries providing services to businesses, residents and visitors, with the remaining 20% in manufacturing.

Training (SkillShop

Engineering remains the mainstay of the manufacturing sector, although food processing, clothing and textiles and publishing remain important. Leading edge companies in the city include GEC Yarrow Shipbuilders, the UK's lend naval contractor; Kvaerner, Europe's largest shipbuilder, ScottishPower, Scotland's largest industrial company, arid Weir Group, Scotland's largest engineering firm.

Within the service sector 50% of jobs are in healthcare, education and government, 20% in retail, catering, hotel and distribution industries, 20% in financial and business services and 10% in transport and communications.

Commercial and industrial activity is underpinned by a full range of business services dealing with property, legal, accountancy, media and consultancy needs.

The brand new Glasgow Conference Centre 'the Armadillo' and Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre, together with facilities run by the major hotel chains, make Glasgow one of the most sought after venues for conferences and seminars in Europe.

Glasgow, with its wide catchment area, offers one of the UK's highest performing local labour markets, a substantial proportion of which are in prime working age groups. Of the 1.5 million people in the metropolitan area, 850,000 are active members of the workforce, making it easy or firms to fill vacancies with high-quality staff and at a cost which compares favourably with other UK cities.

Staff loyally and commitment are also higher in Glasgow. Employers have fewer problems retaining staff, reducing staff, reducing recruitment and training costs. Moreover, Glasgow produces more graduates per head of population than any other city in the United Kingdom, with the expected rise in the number of school-leavers promising an even better-educated workforce.

Glasgow also invests to ensure this will continue. Over £40 million a year is spent on upgrading the skills of those with and on providing more of its people with the skills which employers will need in the future. Training agencies constantly seek input and feedback from employers to ensure that individuals receive the most appropriate training for the modern industrial and commercial world.

Generous funding is available for employers to train staff in new technology and processes. Many incoming Companies have benefited from purpose designed training and recruitment packages as well as receiving the highest levels of grant/loan aid under the government's Regional Policy programmes.

Many of the UK's top companies have relocated parts Of their business to Glasgow to take advantage of advantageous operating conditions and workforce quality. Since 1990, an average of 2,000 jobs per annum have been created by inward investors, mainly concentrated in the financial services, data processing and call centre industries. Recent major inward investors have included Direct Line, Barclays Stockbrokers, TSB Home Loans, British Airways Telesales, Britannia Life, Abbey National Life, BT and National Australia Life. The infusion of new blood and associated investment has helped Glasgow to rapidly establish itself as one of the UK's leading integrated financial service providers and the UK's main focus for 'call centre' business.

The UK government has formally recognised Glasgow's advantages by frequent relocations of Civil Service Departments. Recent incomers include the Passport Office, Student Loans Company, Laud Registration Office, Criminal Injuries Compensation Board, Ministry of Defence Personnel Centre and the Department of Social Security. The City is also home to the head offices of top economic development agencies: Scottish Enterprise, Locate in Scotland, Scottish Trade International and the Glasgow Development Agency

Latest figures from the Office for National Statistics indicate that in 1995 there were a total of 317,900 employees in employment in Glasgow, i.e. people who work for a company or organisation excluding the self employed. This is an increase of 9,200 jobs, or 3.0%, on the 1993 level of 308,700 and compares well with Scotland's performance of a 1.3% increase and Great Britain's rise of 1.6%.

Recent labour market indicators suggest that the Glasgow economy is currently performing better than for some time. Between 1993-95 employment grew by 3%, well ahead of the UK and Scottish averages, and better than most other UK cities. Strong growth in services particularly financial and tourism-related service was accompanied by a cessation of the long- term decline of manufacturing.

Employment forecasts to the year 2005 - which suggest a broad continuation of current trends - are more positive than most other unitary authority areas in the West of Scotland. Unemployment has fallen faster than most other major cities in the UK over the last 5 years. Property markets continue to remain buoyant with substantial investment under way in the office and retailing sectors, and a new momentum building up in the industrial property market. The main push behind the Glasgow figures came from the service sector. Between 1993 and 1995 service employment rose from 251,800 to 263,000  a net gain of 11,200 jobs. This 4.5% growth was more than twice that for services in Scotland of 2.0%, and in Great Britain of 2.2%.

Main drivers within City service activities were Banking/Finance/ Insurance, up 12.2% or 7,240 jobs, Transport/Communications, up 9.6% or 1,926 jobs, and Distribution/Hotels & Restaurants, up 6.6% or 3,961 jobs (see diagram). This sector now accounts for almost 83% of all employment it in Glasgow against 78% in 1991 and 68% in 1981. Over four out of five jobs in the city are therefore in service industries.

In manufacturing the latest official statistics indicate that employment increased from 34,300 in '993 to 34,600 in 1995.

Mackay Consultants estimated that Glasgow's local economic output in 1996 as measured by grass domestic product, GDP was just under £8.8 billion.

In 1995, of the 318,000 jobs in the city, female employment accounted for 52% and male 48%. Over the period 1993 to 1995, female jobs increased 5.2% in Glasgow, compared to 4.2% in Scotland and 1.7% in Britain as a whole with female part-time employment powering up 18.7%, against 6.9% in Scotland and 1.6% in Britain generally.

The main drivers in this change have been the recruitment patterns of distribution/hotels, finance/business services, and public administration/education/health which are re- orientating to female and in particular part-time working.

It is important that a business going through the process of relocation can find the right type of employees. Substantial investment in training is spent every year to ensure that a workforce which is skilled, adaptable, competent and totally reliable. TRAVELLING IN GLASGOW

The City's Transport Systems

The moder