A decade-long fund which provided commercial loans to infrastructure and energy efficiency projects has brought ‘major’ social, economic, and environmental benefits across the country, a new evaluation of the programme has revealed.
The Scottish Partnership for Regeneration in Urban Centres (SPRUCE) fund, originally set up using the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), achieved strong leverage with £425 million of capital invested from third parties through the process.
The evaluation revealed that the total cost of the projects supported exceeded £519.1 million, with SPRUCE providing 26% of the total funding. More than 100,000 square metres of business space being created or modified under the BREEAM classification, thanks to the funding.
Furthermore, 18 urban development and energy efficiency projects – which the evaluation said would ‘not have happened’ in the timeframe they did, if not for the funding – brought a range of social, economic, and environmental benefits across Scotland.
Over 5,100 jobs were created as a result of the fund, with 88 enterprises supported, and around 11,000 tonnes of CO2 savings delivered from biomass projects in Glasgow and St Andrews.
SPRUCE initiatives included facilitating the major Haymarket development in Edinburgh, as well as energy efficiency projects such as the 40GWh Guardbridge Energy Centre project, a biomass plant and heat distribution network developed by St. Andrews University at Guardbridge, Fife.
On a visit to the 1 New Park Square office building in Edinburgh, a project sponsored by Parabola and part funded by SPRUCE, minister for local government empowerment and planning Joe FitzPatrick said, “The SPRUCE fund has created thousands of jobs and the total project development costs of more than half a billion pounds has delivered new infrastructure, supported the economy and transformed our communities for the better.
“Despite operating during a very challenging period, which covered the recovery from the financial crisis, Britain’s departure from the EU and the COVID pandemic, it is clear that SPRUCE contributed significantly to Scotland’s economic strategy.
“The impact of some of the projects has enabled wider regeneration of areas which otherwise would not have happened in the absence of SPRUCE. The Guardbridge project in St Andrews is a good example of this.”
Richard Paton, investment director at Amber Infrastructure, added, “Since its inception SPRUCE has proven to be a powerful funding tool that has addressed market failure in the availability of bank finance for 18 significant infrastructure and energy efficiency projects across Scotland.
“The findings of the evaluation report published today demonstrate the significant and widespread success of the SPRUCE fund across a variety of economic and socio-economic indicators.
“The projects funded by SPRUCE and the crowding in of private sector equity financing to the local areas benefitting from these interventions will continue to deliver regeneration and energy efficiency benefits for many decades to come.”
