SCOTTISH EVENT CAMPUS EXPANSION
Project Value: £180 million Investment Type: Grant funding and development partnerships Location: Finnieston, Glasgow City Landowner: Scottish Event Campus/Glasgow City Council Timescale: Immediate Status: Planning permission in principle
PROJECT OVERVIEW
The Scottish Event Campus (SEC) is within the top 35 conference and events venues in the world and is a Glasgow powerhouse, delivering over £431 million into the Glasgow economy in 2019/20.
The campus contains The SSE Hydro, the 5th busiest live entertainment arena in the world (2019), and has an annual footfall of 2 million mainly domestic visitors. This ‘shovel-ready’ expansion project, aims to turn the SEC into one of the world’s most sustainable campuses and includes a number of globally-competitive, cutting-edge conference and exhibition innovations.
Strategic Importance of the SEC Expansion Project
Glasgow was identified as a Priority 1 area under the UK Levelling Up Fund. In 2018/19, the SEC experienced record turnover, including a 55% growth in conferences. The positive economic impact of the SEC is felt at Glasgow, Scotland and UK levels, both directly through employment and income generated by SEC and also through net additional expenditure. SEC’s plans will build on its position as a catalyst for the local economy and, following COP26, continue to build on its position as a globally competitive conference and events location. The SEC is in the position to make an important contribution to the local economy, helping close the gap across the UK.
Energy Concept
The energy concept for the campus is ambitious including a retrofit of a range of campus structures which are up to 35 years old, ageing plant and equipment and variable electrical, heating & cooling demand. The project, along with the decarbonising of the grid, will reduce our annual carbon emissions from just under 4,000 tonnes to less than 200 tonnes per annum (net zero).
Projected timelines indicate the SEC could achieve net zero by 2035 with significant reductions by 2031. The key features of the smart campus are:
- A 5th generation ambient temperature heat network
- New electrical infrastructure based around a new Smart 5G Micro-Grid and integrated site system controller where the proposed new energy assets on the local network are effectively shared between the buildings on the campus.
- Robust connections to the external grid to allow energy export and import
- Battery storage to provide campus resilience
- Ground storage of heat
- Ability to supply the Crowne Plaza
- Electric vehicle charging points
This ambitious strategy would position the SEC as one of the world’s most energy sustainable businesses in the sectors it operates in.
Scottish Events Campus (SEC)
The detailed business case demonstrates the upgrade would deliver an additional annual GVA to Glasgow of £47 million, to Scotland of £67 million and to the UK of £66 million which would in turn produce additional annual tax revenue of approximately £12.5 million for the UK Government and a further £12.5 million for the Scottish Government.
INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES
The SEC has been identified as a public sector infrastructure investment opportunity as the principal benefit arising is economic impact and resulting tax revenues, rather than a commercial return for the operating company.
SEC is keen to work with the UK Government and other partners on the project. As a limited company, 91% owned by Glasgow City Council and, with being closed down due to COVID, the contribution from SEC is now more limited. However, SEC is confident to be able to bring in additional private sector development adjacent to and on the campus as a result of the expansion and we also expect a boost in commercial development in the surrounding area, including in the wider river corridor.
The funding requirement of the project is essentially £25.7 million per annum for 7 years.
STATUS UPDATE
A comprehensive prospectus has been prepared including a detailed justification and full business plan. A high level of stakeholder support was secured and outline planning permission granted. The economic impact was also updated adopting ‘Green Book’ principles. Since then, the opportunity to incorporate an exciting energy solution for the campus into the project has been identified and is being progressed to the feasibility stage. A further assessment of the whole expansion project has recently been completed in light of the potential impact of current challenges including the pandemic and Brexit. The scale of the opportunity has not diminished.
FOR MORE INFORMATION
Peter Duthie
Chief Executive, Scottish Event Campus email: peter.duthie@sec.co.uk tel: +44 (0)141 576 3204
