£562m SECC project will roll out Clydeside casino

NEW details of a proposed £562 million redevelopment of Glasgow’s Scottish Exhibition and Conference Centre (SECC) site were unveiled yesterday.

Kerzner International, the global gaming group behind Sun City in South Africa and other ventures in America, the Bahamas and Dubai, has been announced as preferred developer to build Scotland’s first resort casino on the east end of the 64-acre site by mid-2007, coinciding with a relaxation in gambling laws.

At the same time Glasgow-based developer Elphinstone has been appointed to transform the west end of the SECC’s site into a 350 million sustainable urban village. The 162 million casino resort will boast 1,250 slot machines and 50 tables as well as a 150-room luxury hotel, restaurants, bar and leisure facilities and a 1,600 space car park. It will employ 1,200 full-time staff.

Subject to planning consent, phased work on the urban village, including 1,500 homes, could begin as early as next year, providing homes for families and key workers as well as work/live units, with completion expected by 2011.

The development also will provide a primary school, nursery and mini-supermarket to urbanise that area of the riverside and to raise cash to help fund the proposed new 50 million 12,500-seat arena.