Few places can be as different from their reputation as Glasgow. To some, the city still conjures up images of some of the worst slums in Europe.
But Glasgow is far more than an urban jungle. Architecturally, it is one of the UK’s most beautiful cities, partly the result of the efforts of one its most famous sons, Charles Rennie Mackintosh.
It has art galleries, theatres, bars and clubs to rival anywhere in Europe – and from 2009 will have one more: the £74m Riverside Museum, designed by world famous architect Zaha Hadid.
Its shopping facilities – according to analysts Experian – are second only to London’s West End in both quality and quantity. And, thanks to the Scottish tradition of the middle classes living in flats, Glasgow’s own west end offers beautiful, spacious accommodation in abundance.
If city living doesn’t suit, then the outskirts of the glorious Highlands and Islands are only a short drive away.
If city living doesn’t suit, then the outskirts of the glorious Highlands and Islands are only a short drive away
The city’s rising confidence is perhaps reflected best in the city’s house prices. At the moment, house prices are obviously falling across the UK, with the credit saueeze not even sparing London homeowners. But before the slowdown, the value of houses in Glasgow had been rising at a faster rate than anywhere, bar central London.
Record investment
Its transport infrastructure, too, is impressive. The M74, which becomes the M6 at Carlisle, offers quick access to England, while Edinburgh is less than an hour away on the M8.
The fastest trains to London clock in at just under four and a half hours, and Glasgow airport provides connections with major North American cities, as well as the usual European capitals.
Meanwhile, all along the Clyde regeneration projects are turning around those parts of the city that originally gave it its unsavoury reputation. In fact, there is around £2bn of investment in the city’s waterfront alone.
But the city is more than just physically impressive. It has enjoyed record investment and employment growth over recent years, with £4.2bn coming into the city in 2006. The number of jobs in Glasgow has risen by almost a quarter in just a decade.
While there is still manufacturing along the Clyde, financial services, shared services and contact centres have replaced shipbuilding as the main industries in the West of Scotland.
The financial services sector now employs one in 20 of the Scottish population, and in Glasgow, in particular, this is underpinned by a cluster of dedicated technology operations for this sector, which benefits from a pool of high-quality computer science and software engineering graduates produced by the city’s four universities.
Scotland’s second city boasts impressive human resources: there are four business schools and 19 colleges there, and 1.1 million people living within a 30-minute commute of the city centre.
The city council lists the availability of skilled labour among its biggest strengths, as well as its universities, the quality of its new office accommodation and the high standard of its public transport system.
“Glasgow offers wide-ranging support to inward investors and expanding companies,” says a spokesman for the city council. “There is a high level of political support from the council for the development and expansion of the city’s contact centre and shared services industries.”
The list of companies now present in the city may surprise the unitiated: ACE, Barclays, BNP Paribas, Direct Lane, JP Morgan and Morgan Stanley.
Innovative
Part of the reason for this influx of international corporations is the city’s successful attempts to provide the sort of commercial premises that such firms demand.
“We understand that an efficient planning process is key to attracting world-class companies to the city,” says the spokesman, “and now have a dedicated planning team aiming to streamline the process around major developments.
“Glasgow has an international reputation as an innovative city that is open for business.”
