Glasgow has the potential to experience an economic renaissance, according to the chief executive of Glasgow Chamber of Commerce. Speaking on the Go Radio Business Show with Hunter & Haughey, Stuart Patrick said: “The condition of our cities has been heating up and none more so than in Glasgow. Turning around the fortunes of Sauchiehall Street will need a concerted effort and, although Argyle Street has similar problems, Drum Property Group’s massive redevelopment of Candleriggs Square shows that a response is possible.
“You won’t be surprised to hear the Chamber is discussing with the political parties what is needed to bring in new investment. It is firmly backing the ambitious proposals from Land Securities for Buchanan Galleries and from Sovereign Centros for the St Enoch Centre, which can reshape our city centre for decades to come.
“However we appreciate these projects will take some years to be delivered and so we are also working with Chamber members and the City Council on actions to help more quickly.
“We’re awaiting confirmation of Scottish Government funding to help get the centre into better shape now the worst of the pandemic is over. This month we will also get the conclusions of what we have commissioned on how to reuse all those empty shop units and older offices.”
The show’s host, Donald Martin, editor of The Herald and Herald on Sunday, welcomed Mr Patrick’s ‘positive and upbeat monthly update’ but asked: “What’s going wrong?”
“I was anticipating that mask wearing was going to be lifted. I didn’t have a date in my mind but the 18th of April . . . okay, we’ll settle for that!” said Mr Patrick.
Lord Willie Haughey asked Mr Patrick: “A lot of people are saying their business is being affected by the staffing situation, which is dire at the moment due to people who are catching Covid. Is this affecting your own members?”
“Yes, we’re really struggling with staff numbers. I can see it myself in the number of people who can’t turn up for the meetings we have.”
Mr Patrick also revealed he had hoped the Scottish Government strategy for retail would prove to be a boost to the Chamber’s work, adding: “While it’s good to see the Government recognise the economic significance of retail, the plan says more about what’s expected of businesses in the realms of fair work and net zero targets than it offers by way of fresh, tangible support and response.”
He noted Glasgow city centre had been badly damaged by pandemic policies but investment in the international financial services district has continued throughout, with new offices for Barclays, JP Morgan and Virgin Money all evidence of a strong investment pipeline.
“It was also encouraging last week to see Glasgow climb 13 places to number 52 in the Z/Yen global financial centres index, one of the best sources for assessing the success of financial centres. In the top 60 only Berlin’s ranking rose faster for the six months to the end of 2021, while Edinburgh rose one place to 21.
“It’s worth reflecting on the fact a country the size of Scotland has two of the top 60 biggest financial centres in the world. Initial evidence also suggests there are going to be more jobs based in the IFSD at the end of the pandemic than there were at the beginning.
“While hybrid working will restrict the full impact on the city centre itself, the Glasgow economy is certainly benefitting. Glasgow was also confirmed by the CBRE tech city report as the number three city in the UK outside London for technology business.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here