The data, obtained by The Herald, was used in a presentation at a panel discussion made by Glasgow City Region at the UK’s Real Estate Investment & Infrastructure Forum (UKREiiF) in Leeds this week. 

According to the figures, Glasgow City Region’s average gross investment rate is now significantly higher than Greater Manchester and now comparable to that of the West of England.

The figures also show that Glasgow generates an equivalent economic output to Manchester in the energy and net zero sector – £8.6 billion – despite having roughly 35% fewer registered firms.

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In addition, Glasgow is outperforming Manchester in terms of innovation intensity, with higher innovation activity (35% vs 31%), stronger UK Research and Innovation engagement (16% vs 12%), and more patenting firms (8% vs 6%), despite being smaller both in absolute terms (347 vs 760 firms) and as a share of the total business base (2.9% vs 3.3%).

Responding to the figures, Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken said she believes they are illustrative of the fact the city has “hustled hard” in recent years. 

She told The Herald: “Glasgow remains relatively very affordable compared to particularly Manchester and we have incredibly high quality of life in Glasgow. You don’t just work in the city. You’ve got an opportunity to actually live in Glasgow and get a great deal out of it.

“I also think the reason we are snapping at Manchester’s heels and now overtaking them on some fronts is that we’ve hustled really hard in the past few years.

“We have worked really hard to make sure that the proposition that we are putting forward is that Glasgow is really competitive and that we can confidently say that we stand alongside our main competitors and that we can hold our head up and say, ‘We can offer you something in Glasgow that matches what any other city in these islands, and, indeed, across Europe, can offer’. Certainly any city of our size. We are not saying we are going to compete with Paris and Barcelona. But could we compete with Bilbao? Yes, absolutely we can. And indeed, there was a couple of years ago we were ranked as the best large European city for our foreign direct investment strategy. We are recognised for the work that we’ve done, the work that we’re continuing to do, and the rewards it’s reaping for us.”

Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken (Image: Gordon Terris)

Kevin Rush, Director of Regional Economic Growth for the Glasgow City Region, also responded to the figures, noting his belief that they indicate that a “we will find a way” culture is now permeating the city.

He told The Herald: “I think skills and talent have been a huge part of it. I think there has been growing investor confidence in Glasgow because we are starting to see the fruits of some of the decisions that we took some time ago. You start to see the infrastructure, for example, that was associated with the Glasgow City Deal. The idea behind that was to create the conditions for growth. It was about establishing ways in which the private sector could invest. You start to see that now through things like the Renfrew bridge, the Govan-Partick bridge and the work that was done in the city centre which allowed Barclays to come in with Scotland’s largest ever inward investment. So that investor confidence has come, I think, from decisions we’ve taken. 

“Also I think we’ve generally got an attitude in Glasgow where we will find a way. There’s just a kind of general attitude that we have which is that the answer will never be no. I think that culture is really through the whole city now. I think it was always there but I think now there is that sense that there will always be a way that you can find a route to development within Glasgow. And the proof is in the pudding.”

He added: “The final point I think just about that growth is that Glasgow has got quite a broad based economy, which protects us from shocks, to be honest. But if you also look at where some of that growth has been there has been real growth and productivity in our advanced manufacturing sector, for example. Those high value sectors that probably a lot of Glaswegians don’t even realise they’re on their doorsteps. 


“I think some of those really high value sectors have grown alongside great investor confidence because we’re seeing the value of infrastructure. The skills are in place, and we’ve got an attitude that says, we will make it so.”