GLASGOW MEANS SUCCESS The Glasgow Bragging Book July 2014
FIRST AND ONLY Glasgow is fdi s Large European City of the Future for FDI Strategy 2014/15. Glasgow is Scotland s first city-region to access the UK Government s City Deal worth over 1bn. Glasgow is the first city in the UK to implement the Tax Increment Financing scheme. Glasgow is the first city in Scotland to deliver free WiFi outdoors 24/7. Glasgow is the first city in the UK to launch a major events charter. Glasgow s Royal Conservatoire of Scotland is the UK s only conservatoire offering music, drama and dance. Fraunhofer, Europe s largest and most prestigious organisation for applied research, chose Glasgow as home for its UK Headquarters and Centre for Applied Photonics. The Glasgow Tower at the Glasgow Science Centre is the only fully rotational free standing structure in the world.
LEADING CITY Glasgow is Scotland s largest city with a growing population of 600,000 residents and an average age of 35. Glasgow has secured in excess of 7bn of investment since 2011. Glasgow makes the highest contribution to Scottish GVA of any Scottish city. Glasgow has attracted 4,700 new jobs since 2012. Glasgow is the conference capital of Scotland, hosting more conferences than all Scottish cities combined and second only to London. Glasgow is one of the highest ranking UK Cities for Quality of Life. Glasgow has over 30,000 businesses registered with Companies House, 17,000 of which are private registered businesses with a turnover of 31bn annually. Glasgow is home to the new South Glasgow Hospitals Campus, the largest critical care complex in Western Europe. Glasgow s 3 super colleges have 22% of Scotland s FE students and 30% of Scotland s HE students.
SUSTAINABLE CITY Glasgow is rapidly developing into one of the most sustainable and resilient cities in Europe using technology and data to improve quality of life for residents and opportunities for businesses. Glasgow has world class facilities to support the development of low carbon solutions through the University of Strathclyde s Technology and Innovation Centre and inovo in ITREZ where the skills and expertise of academia and industry converge. Glasgow is one of the first 33 cities selected for the Rockefeller Foundation s 100 Resilient Cities Centennial Challenge. One of only 5 in Europe and 2 in the UK, resilient cities are those who have demonstrated a dedicated commitment to building their own capacities to prepare for, withstand, and bounce back rapidly from shock. Glasgow beat 29 other UK cities to win a 24m Future Cities grant from the Technology Strategy Board.
CONNECTED CITY Glasgow s world class connectivity includes 100% digital telecoms and 4G mobile. Glasgow enjoys exceptional international access thanks to proximity to 3 international airports with Glasgow International Airport offering 2 daily flights to Dubai, gateway to the Far East. Glasgow s city region boasts the UK s largest suburban rail network outside London. Glasgow Central is the busiest railway station in Scotland and second busiest in the UK, outside of London. Glasgow s historic subway is the third oldest in the world behind London and Budapest. Glasgow is the UK s first city to provide combined cellular and WiFi network in all of its 15 subway stations.
BUSINESS CITY Glasgow is among the most business-friendly locations in the UK and Europe. A world class financial centre, Glasgow is ranked in the top 75 of the world s financial centres attracting over 1bn in investment since 2001. Glasgow is one of the best value for money locations in the UK with commercial rent costs among the lowest. Glasgow is at the forefront of speculative office development in the UK with 4 new office projects totalling 210m and creating over 500,000 square feet of new Grade A city centre office space by 2015. Nearly 50m in conference business has been directly attributed to the city s hosting of the Commonwealth Games with conference business expected to bring 150m into the city over the course of this financial year.
RETAIL CITY (Image Courtesy of McAteer Photography) Glasgow is a shopaholic s paradise according to Lonely Planet and is consistently voted as the top place to shop in the UK, second only to London s West End. Glasgow s retail offer is impressive with more than half a million square metres of retail floor space and 3,000 business units generating a massive turnover of 3.5bn (2011) which is 13% of Scotland s total retail turnover. Glasgow s retail market grows year on year and future expansions are planned for Buchanan Galleries, Silverburn and The Fort. Glasgow is a mecca for style mavens with over 1,500 outlets from cool vintage shops to independent boutiques and exclusive designers.
INNOVATIVE CITY Glasgow is world renowned as an international centre of excellence for research and development, design and engineering of renewables and clean tech, with state-of-theart infrastructure to match. Glasgow is home to the ground-breaking innovation centres - Stratified Medicine Scotland Innovation Centre, CENSIS (the innovation centre for sensors and imaging systems) and the Industrial Biotechnology Innovation Centre. Glasgow Biomedicine offers an integrated, interdisciplinary centre of excellence for the management and execution of both commercial and non-commercial clinical trials research. The Glasgow BioCorridor boasts 36% of Scottish Life Science companies and 50% of Scotland s medical technology companies. Glasgow has a global reputation for excellence in research with access to the largest bio-repository in Europe, dealing with over 100,000 enquiries annually.
KNOWLEDGE CITY Glasgow has a long and proud tradition of education: the University of Glasgow is the fourth oldest university in the English speaking world while the Glasgow School of Art is the UK s oldest art school and the Royal Conservatoire was founded by Charles Dickens in 1847. Glasgow is home to award winning universities: The University of Strathclyde is the 2013 Entrepreneurial University of the Year and the UK 2012 University of the Year. Glasgow Caledonian University is in the top 10 in the UK for research in allied health professions and the first UK university to set up a campus in New York City. Glasgow has a higher percentage of residents with a qualification of N/SVQ level 4 and above than Scotland or Great Britain as a whole and school attainment is at an all time high. Glasgow s 5 higher education institutions and 3 super colleges boast a whopping 130,000 students from 135 countries, the largest student population in Scotland. The Mitchell Library is the largest public reference library in Europe.
DESTINATION CITY Glasgow is the number one Scottish destination on the rise and third in the UK according to TripAdvisor. Glasgow attracts 2.3m visitors each year and tourism generates 601m for the local economy. Glasgow is the only city to feature twice in the coveted Louis Vuitton European Cities Guide in 2009 and 2013. Glasgow s newest addition to its many cultural attractions, the Riverside Museum, won the prestigious European Museum of the Year in 2013. People Make Glasgow is the first city brand to be developed using crowd branding. The new city brand won 4 awards at the prestigious Transform Awards, 2014. Glasgow hotels are enjoying their highest occupancy levels for 15 years in 2013/14, breaking the 80% barrier for the first time since record-keeping began in 1999. Showcase Cinema de Lux has signed to open a new 10-screen cinema at the new Buchanan Galleries development in Glasgow.
MUSIC CITY (Image Courtesy of McAteer Photography) Glasgow is Scotland s only UNESCO City of Music since 2009. Glasgow s music credentials are second to none with the capacity and expertise to secure events such as the MTV Europe Music Awards and the MOBOs. Glasgow was fittingly crowned the top place for UK concerts (outside of London) in the UK s Top 100 list (PRS for Music). Glasgow boasts 8 venues in the Top 100 list of Places to Watch Gigs, more than any other UK city barring London. Glasgow hosts a staggering 130 music events every week. Glasgow s legendary music scene generates 75m for the city s economy each year. Glasgow s stunning SSE Hydro is Scotland s new home of live entertainment and is ranked third in Pollstar s top 100 worldwide arena venues beating Madison Square Garden and Wembley Arena. It was also awarded the accolade of most Stylish Entertainment Venue at the Scottish Style Awards 2013.
SPORT CITY Glasgow is proud host of the XX Commonwealth Games, the biggest sporting and cultural event hosted by the city with an anticipated global TV audience of more than 1.5bn. Glasgow is one of the world s top 10 sporting cities, according to the internationally recognised SportBusiness Ultimate Sports City 2012 Awards. The city was ranked ahead of Olympic cities such as Paris, Tokyo, Moscow and Amsterdam. Glasgow s passion for sport is unrivalled and has been crowned number one city in the world for sports marketing and branding according to the SportAccord Convention. Glasgow s profile on the global sporting stage has been confirmed as it continues to win major sporting events such as the World Gymnastic Championships and the Rugby World Cup in 2015. Glasgow has over 90 parks and formal gardens including 5 city parks, 12 district parks, 74 local parks offering a range of activities from orienteering trails, putting and pitch and putt courses, croquet lawns and even skateboard parks.
NEW ARRIVALS and EXPANSIONS in 2014 Big data analysis specialist SAS opened a new research and development centre in Glasgow which will focus on combating fraud and financial crimes. A Strathclyde Oil & Gas Institute will be based at the University of Strathclyde and will support the oil and gas industry and help companies compete internationally. KPMG continues to build its new tax centre of excellence by announcing recruitment of 80 new staff by summer 2014 takng their total to 180. EEW Energy Services, which supports the oil and gas sector, opened its UK headquarters in Glasgow in October 2013. Clough, an engineering and project services contractor working in the energy, chemical, mining and mineral sectors, is establishing a new operations centre in the Glasgow City Region, creating more than 100 jobs. Emirates will open a new lounge for first and business class customers at Glasgow International Airport. Celebrity chef Marco Pierre White is to launch his first Glasgow restaurant at Hotel Indigo in Waterloo Street in late August.
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