A GEORGIAN building in Glasgow’s Trongate that once housed a workshop for Scottish steam engine inventor James Watt was relaunched yesterday as a designer incubator to inspire the nation’s next generation of entrepreneurs.
The Tontine building at 20 Trongate is the first project to be completed in the city under the £1.13 billon Glasgow City Region Deal and is expected to inject more than £50 million into the local economy over the next five years.
“Pulling together lots of innovative, creative business thinkers in a space where they can collaborate has got real potential,” said Frank McAveety, leader of Glasgow City Council. “I’m delighted to be bringing online an older building that maybe had a very functional use previously, but will now have a very intelligent, creative use as a space which could inspire a lot of good thinking. We want to make sure Glasgow is helping to develop the best brains for some of our key sectors of the economy over the next period.”
Up to 140 businesses are expected to use the 25,000 sq ft space, which was inspired by Google-style interiors and includes painted steel beams, feature walls, out-sized lampshades, designer sofas, giant cardboard trees, vintage lightbulbs and polished wooden floors. Two rooms are named after Alexander Graham Bell and John Logie Baird to remind aspiring entrepreneurs about Scottish inventions – the telephone and the television – that changed the world. Adorning one of the walls is a quote from James Watt’s first patent in 1769. Watt’s steam engine, an improvement of the Newcomen steam engine, was a key catalyst in the industrial revolution in Britain and around the world.
“Watt took an existing invention and made it better,” a spokesman said. “The idea is to show to businesses that they don’t have to change the world. They can improve on something that already exists.”
Another wall is decorated with a montage of Scottish inventions including the pedal bicycle, colour photo, pneumatic tyre, penicillin and tarmac. There is superfast broadband throughout, videoconferencing technology in all the rooms and plasma screens in all the meeting rooms. Twenty three business advisers will be on hand to support businesses of between five and ten employees in the key growth sectors of enabling technology, creative industries and advanced design and manufacturing.
The renovation of the building, which dates back to 1737 and is said to have been where Glasgow Chamber of Commerce was founded in 1783, was financed with £1.67m of City Deal funding from the UK government’s Department of Business Innovation and Skills.
The UK and Scottish governments are contributing £500m each to the Glasgow and Clyde Valley City Region Deal, which is designed to accelerate growth by investing in infrastructure, skills and innovation.
The Tontine project is expected to lead to the creation of 536 new jobs and additional turnover of £53.6m over the term of the programme.
Councillor Mark Macmillan, Leader of Renfrewshire Council said: “The project illustrates City Deal's ambitious aims for our economy by combining a commitment to excellence with entrepreneurial drive and an absolute determination to generate jobs.”
The building has been designed by Glasgow Council's in-house architect and graphic design teams, with the works completed in around five months.
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