(Image credit: Clark Contracts)
COMMERCIAL property investment by the City of Edinburgh Council has provided space for local businesses and is raising over £15 million a year, the local authority has revealed.
It comes as a revised version of its commercial property strategy – which supports existing, new, and expanding enterprises across the capital – has been approved by members of its finance and resources committee.
The accompanying report reveals that the council is the biggest landlord of commercial property in all of Edinburgh, with a portfolio of 949 assets worth in the region of £245 million.
This has helped the council generate income to reinvest towards frontline services and make profits from sales, which it said has helped with budget savings. The strategy also supports a number of grassroots and community-based clubs and organisations with low-cost lease arrangements.
Under the refreshed plan, the council will continue to maximise income growth from buildings in the year ahead while also prioritising support for start-ups and the capital’s net zero by 2030 climate commitment. It said that a change to the strategy will also allow the opportunity for funds from property sales to be reinvested back into the portfolio, helping to streamline and make the most of the council’s assets.
This involves a vision for designing in-house and building a new, sustainable business park on council-owned land at Peffermill – mirroring the successful business park launched in East Hermiston in early 2018. Five years on, the East Hermiston Park is providing 16 fully let units in a 1,600 sqm modern industrial space yielding an annual income of £185,000.
Councillor Mandy Watt, finance and resources convener at the City of Edinburgh Council, said, “I’m pleased that the refreshed strategy has received committee’s approval and that we’ll be able to improve on the £15 million of income already raised from the council’s property portfolio. The opportunities available to support even more jobs at the new low carbon business park in Peffermill are exciting, and I’m looking forward to plans being brought forward later in the year.
“Over the last year, the council has used its properties to support the economic success of the city post-Covid and helped budding businesses to thrive, in ways that maximise income for delivering council services. The results speak for themselves and we’ve seen first-hand the benefits business parks like the existing one at East Hermiston can bring.
“Against a backdrop of reduced government funding, we’ve had to think creatively to make the most of any income that we can raise for council services. This property strategy is a good example of that.”
