The economy of Ayrshire is set for a major boost over the next few years if the hopes of the backers of Ayrshire Growth are realised.
The deal, which was signed a year ago brings together the combined firepower of the UK Government, Scottish Government and the three local councils – North Ayrshire, South Ayrshire
and East Ayrshire.
Sharon Hodgson, head of the Ayrshire Growth Deal, at East Ayrshire Council, says: “We’ve secured £251m of investment, very much focused around key strategic sites and key sectors for Ayrshire, building on the opportunities that already exist and trying to really grow our economy and transform the fortunes of our communities.
“We have an expectation that the Deal will create 7,000 jobs and that the level of investment the public sector is making should unlock another £300m from the private sector as a starting point.”
A key part of the Growth Deal and one that will go a long way to determining its success is its ambition for aerospace and space based around Prestwick Airport.
Theo Leijser, service lead for economy and regeneration at South Ayrshire Council, says: “It’s a really good opportunity to develop the aerospace and space industry. The elements for South Ayrshire are focused around the airport campus. It’s focusing on the airport as an asset and how you can turn that asset into something really valuable not just for Ayrshire and Scotland but also for the UK and globally.
“Certainly the aerospace sector is growing very fast and has grown very fast over the last 10 years. Also the emerging space sector which is not just about rockets but about getting satellites into orbit and getting the data and mapping down to earth to make better decisions about climate change, agriculture etc. For me, it’s a very clear focus which is trying to drive a new sector which is based on advanced manufacturing and advance engineering.”
Travellers passing through Prestwick Airport seeing how much less busy it is currently than it once was will not get any sense of the scale of the existing aerospace activity around Prestwick.
Leijser says that this is a hidden jewel of the Ayrshire economy. “It is definitely a jewel: the cluster that has formed around Prestwick Airport around MRO [maintenance, repair and operations] activities around research and development and around supporting the aerospace sector. It’s not just about the flying – it’s about the engineering and advanced manufacturing that creates really high quality jobs for the area and Scotland as a whole.”
He adds: “MRO is a really important sector and a fast-growing sector, it’s not just about the maintenance and repair operations but also decommissioning of the aircraft and doing that in a sustainable way.”
There are currently around 4,000 people employed in the aerospace cluster in Ayrshire, directly through major aerospace companies, such as Spirit Aerosystems, Chevron Aircraft Maintenance, BAE Systems Regional Aircraft and Goodrich Corporation but also through their suppliers and linked businesses. The Growth Deal aim is to double that number of jobs employed in both aerospace and space as part of the Ayrshire Deal programme.
Hodgson from East Ayrshire Council says Prestwick’s ambitions on space do not compete with those of Sutherland.
“One’s about horizontal launch and one’s about vertical launch so they’re not competing, they’re complementary investments. We’re working with the same design team and project managers as they are in Sutherland to make sure we capture the complementarity.”
The councils have stressed that they want the benefits of the economic boosts provided by the Growth Deal to be shared as widely as possible. Leijser at South Ayrshire Council says: “It’s really important for us to strengthen the supply chain, to work with local companies so that they can supply into the aerospace sector. That’s around precision engineering, advance manufacturing etc.”
Another part of the programme focusing on manufacturing is for a manufacturing centre of excellence in East Ayrshire focusing largely on food and drink.
Hodgson at East Ayrshire Council says: “We have additional investment in business space in Moorfield [industrial estate in Kilmarnock] that’s probably East Ayrshire’s key site for industrial investment. There is the Halo Project in Kilmarnock, that will be investing in an enterprise and innovation hub and office accommodation and that’s already on site.”
Morrison Construction began work in October as the main contractor in developing the Halo’s enterprise and innovation hub which is the first part of the £63m brownfield urban regeneration project led by entrepreneur Marie Macklin. The 23-acre site was formerly the home of Johnnie Walker whisky.
When completed at the start of 2021, it will aim to maximise collaboration between entrepreneurs experimenting, creating and growing highly specialised digital and cyber businesses. It will feature cutting edge technology aiming to stimulate new working in areas such as health and social care.
Also in East Ayrshire there is investment in the energy sector with a new research and demonstrator facility.
“Ayrshire has for decades been a major supplier of coal to the UK energy sector – obviously that has disappeared, demand for that has ceased to exist and operators have ceased to function in East Ayrshire. However the opportunity that has derived from investment in the energy sector in Ayrshire is to look at what sources of energy we can use in future.”
Hodgson explains: “It’s an attempt to look to a community the size of Cumnock [population 13,000] and how you would take it off grid and how you could combine different energy sources to achieve that. On one hand it’s very much looking to the future in the context of the climate emergency and looking at what sources might look like and how they might combine, but it’s also recognising what Ayrshire has contributed to the energy sector for decades and it’s about reimagining that and maintaining that link and that supply.”
Another key element of the Ayrshire Growth Deal is tourism, with a major plank of the programme being a £9m proposal for the development and regeneration of The Great Harbour at Irvine Harbourside and Ardeer funded by the Scottish Government, plus an additional £4m from North Ayrshire Council aimed at creating a coastal destination able
to attract many more visitors to the area.
This will build on already-increasing tourism numbers. Gordon Smith, VisitScotland regional director, said: “Another opportunity for businesses is The Coig, five new touring routes around Ayrshire, Firth of Clyde and the Clyde Islands. VisitScotland is working closely with The Coig as momentum builds to engage local businesses and to develop new marketing activity to promote the routes and the region.”
Tourist players in the area hope that it will gain a boost from all these initiatives and that it will stimulate even greater visitor numbers in the years ahead.
Taking its share of the £84m of project earmarked for North Ayrshire under the Growth Deal, the transformation of the Great Harbour at Irvine will include investment in a boardwalk along the harbour, a community marina and extensive redesign of public space.
This will be at the heart of a plan to leverage in up to £100m of additional investment in housing, community facilities and a range of leisure activities.
Karen Yeomans, director of growth and investment at North Ayrshire Council, says: “The total package of investment will benefit the local community, provide employment opportunities, and transform the area to a destination of regional and national significance, creating a destination that draws up to a million additional visitors a year.
“Marina facilities are to be provided in Arran and Cumbrae, to significantly improve the marine tourism infrastructure network within the Clyde. We are working with strategic partners to lever in additional funding to maximise the impact of investment.”
Irvine will also host a planned state-of-the-art digital laboratory offering strategic support to businesses and investors to embrace digital technology as a catalyst for growth and productivity.
The digital lab will establish links to the new National Manufacturing Institute for Scotland, which is being developed in Ayrshire as part of a hub and spoke approach to development in manufacturing. A suite of advanced manufacturing flexible business units as well as conference and training facilities will be sited alongside the digital lab.
One of the major infrastructure assets in the area is Hunterston port. Plans to improve the contribution of this deep water port asset include investment for a manufacturing centre for floating offshore wind projects. An energy stabilisation plant to generate energy for secondary marine development is also planned.
An international marine science and environment centre will be developed as the cornerstone of a £135m investment and regeneration centre at Ardrossan.
Yeomans says: “The centre will be optimally placed to take advantage of its coastal location, and investment in the provision of a school, marina and harbour investment offering industry-led innovation and research into how the Ayrshire coast and manufacturing heritage can combine to reaffirm Ayrshire’s blue economy offer.”
