£600m funds in place for Dundee waterfront project

Nearly two-thirds of the funding is now in place for Dundee’s £1 billion waterfront regeneration project, one of the biggest schemes of its type in Western Europe.

The proposed marine and lock gates at Dundee Waterfront

Planners will confirm that committed investments have topped £600 million at the launch of a new funding roadshow on 5 November in Aberdeen. Similar presentations will follow in Edinburgh and Glasgow on 10 November, with the emphasis on the one million square feet of commercial space recently released for office, leisure, retail and residential development.

Officials from Dundee Wat­erfront say enquiries from local, national and in­t­er­national investors are on the rise, and the team is in discussions with businesses from a variety of sectors. They include firms from the life sciences, renewables, fin­ancial, hospitality, tourism and creative industries.

Start-ups are already on the rise within the area, with the number of new firms opening their doors increasing from 31 in 2013 to 49 last year. In the first nine months of this year, 35 businesses were launched.

Dundee City Council development director Mike Galloway, who has been spearheading the project, said Dundee Waterfront is keen to encourage “sustainable, design-led development”. New planning guidelines were issued in August to encourage investors to work in conjunction with local authorities.

“Most of the land in the central Waterfront is owned by Dundee City Council, so we can work in partnership with investors and take a long-term holistic approach to development,” Galloway said.

The key driver behind much of this activity has been the Scottish outpost of the V&A Museum of Design, which is due to open to the public in 2018. Construction began earlier this year on what is now expected to be an £80m project.