Edinburgh's Development Zones

Edinburgh offers 2400 hectares of prime development opportunity.

To enable development to be driven forward with the context of the City vision as a whole and to bring more coherence to property development plans across the city, four priority investment zones have been created:- Edinburgh city centre, Edinburgh's Waterfront, West Edinburgh and South-East Edinburgh.

Each zone will have a different priority however, each will focus on enhancing economic growth and will involve strong, co-ordinated public & private sector collaboration.

Investor Development Prospectus

Edinburgh offers an unrivalled quality of life and is the perfect place to live, invest and do business. Readily acknowledged as the most attractive location for international investment into the UK after London, the Edinburgh Investor Development Prospectus outlines current investment and property development opportunities and highlights current and future projects within the city's four strategic zones.

Edinburgh City Centre

Recognised by UNESCO as a World Heritage Site, Edinburgh’s city centre features high quality office accommodation, acclaimed visitor attractions, award-winning hotels and stunning residential properties, complemented by a strong retail vision.

Investment continues to improve transport infrastructure and transform public spaces. No wonder investors have been attracted to the £850 million redevelopment of the St. James Quarter commencing in early 2012, which once complete will include two new hotels, cafés, restaurants and 15,000m² of office space.

The £85 million expansion of the Edinburgh International Conference Centre will deliver a technologically-advanced events space and provide 18,000m² of new Grade A office accommodation.

Edinburgh's Waterfront

The £1 billion redevelopment of Edinburgh Waterfront creates unprecedented new commercial, residential and recreational development opportunities. Strong investment from a range of partners is transforming the Waterfront into a world-class, thriving urban quarter building on the area’s emerging reputation as a magnet for creative industries.

In 2010, the Scottish Government gave its approval for a Tax Increment Financing (TIF) pilot – the first of its kind in the UK – and paved the way for £84 million of public sector investment in a range of enabling infrastructure projects: a catalyst for future private sector investment.

The area is already home to world-leading manufacturers in the field of offshore renewable energy and the deep water port at Leith offers opportunities for further expansion of this sector.

The regeneration has the potential to deliver more than 26,000 new homes and 450,000m² of new commercial and retail space for the city.

West Edinburgh

Gateway to Scotland’s capital – both locally and globally – West Edinburgh is already home to the campus-style global headquarters of Royal Bank of Scotland.

Edinburgh Airport – the 6th busiest in the UK – sits at the heart of the zone and having completed a £40 million upgrade in 2010, passenger numbers are projected to rise from 9 million in 2009 to 12 million by 2020.

Close proximity to Edinburgh Airport, together with land that can be made available for development, creates major opportunities for both investors and developers.

Supporting that growth are plans for an International Business Gateway offering superb connectivity with the rest of world, hotel development opportunities and potentially a new multi-use events venue.

Less than 1km away is Edinburgh Park, one of Europe’s prime business locations and home to more than 20 blue-chip companies including HSBC Securities, AEGON and JP Morgan.

South-East Edinburgh

The heart of Scotland’s world-leading life sciences industry beats in South-East Edinburgh. Edinburgh BioQuarter offers the ideal environment for spin-out companies, start-up firms and new ventures by established pharmaceutical companies.

With the mission to bring investors and ideas together in one location, BioQuarter combines the UK’s best medical and veterinary research with two major hospitals, dedicated bio-incubator facilities and an outstanding team of business development personnel.

A new bio-incubator building, opened in February 2012 houses more than 7,432 m²of incubator and office space, and future plans will see further medical research and patient care facilities come to this site, alongside more commercial expansion.

All forming part of the Edinburgh Science Triangle, a collaboration of seven science parks, four world-renowned universities and two world-class animal biology institutes. This will eventually provide more than 20 hectares of parkland and 500,000m² of built space accommodating around 15,000 researchers.