North Lanarkshire has attracted more international investment than any other local authority in Scotland over the last two years.
The strong industrial profile and sizeable property market has drawn international investors to the region, with 11 property transactions completed to the value of £101.7million since 2021.*
The deals have seen more than 1,135,036 sq feet of industrial space sold, with Motherwell, Coatbridge and Cumbernauld providing the most attractive investment locations.
Premises ranged in size from 20,253 sq ft to 332,382 sq ft with sales values spanning £3.3m to £27.7million.
Both the number of people working in international businesses and the turnover in these companies in North Lanarkshire saw increases between 2020 and 2022: employment rose from 20,470 to 21,170, while turnover increased from £ 3.9 billion to £ 4.4 billion.
Councillor Louise Roarty, Depute Leader of the council, said: “These deals underpin North Lanarkshire’s position as an attractive location for business and property investors on the global stage and demonstrate confidence in the area’s economic profile and ambitions.”
A great example of the investment taking place in the area is international premium label manufacturing company, Eurostampa which recently announced plans to open a new state-of-the-art facility in Westfield, Cumbernauld.
The Italian-owned firm (previously known as Gilmour & Dean) is expanding its business in Scotland and relocating from Glasgow, almost doubling its previous factory space, creating 90 new full-time equivalent jobs and safeguarding 12 more.
Eurostampa purchased the 82,722 sq ft site at 3 Hunt Hill in Cumbernauld in October last year for £3.3m from SSE PLC.
The site sits on 10.41 acres near the M80 and M73 directly linking to the M8, M74 and the wider Scottish / UK motorway network.
The move will enable Eurostampa to increase capacity to meet market demand, as well as significantly reducing its carbon emissions.
The Eurostampa investment was announced on the back of Scottish Development International (SDI) statistics which showed that more than 8,500 planned real living wage jobs were generated through inward investment across Scotland in 2022-23.
Other investors in North Lanarkshire’s economy span from across the globe including Bahrain, Germany, Canada, the US, Hong Kong and Guernsey.
Councillor Roarty continued, “Eurostampa’s move is an exciting development for Cumbernauld and North Lanarkshire, bringing new jobs, investment and supply chain opportunities to the area.
“Around £234 million of private investment was made here in the last three years, with more than £100million coming from overseas investment in the last two years. The fact that more overseas investment comes to North Lanarkshire is no surprise as the local conditions are enormously attractive with location, transport networks, workforce capabilities and innovation ranking highly.
“This clearly demonstrates that North Lanarkshire is the place to invest. The council is working to maximise every opportunity to create more jobs, grow the economy and foster inclusive growth.”
Eurostampa’s multi-million-pound investment in the new factory has been supported by a £2.5m grant from Scottish Enterprise.
Steven Thompson, General Manager of Eurostampa UK, said, “Eurostampa is making the single biggest investment in the company’s history here in Scotland and this underlines our commitment as a strategic supplier to the Scotch whisky industry.
“As a family business, investment is core to our strategy and we are delighted with the grant from Scottish Enterprise but also with the support that they have given throughout the project.
“As well as providing us with the capacity to meet our increasing customer demand our new facility in North Lanarkshire will provide us with the opportunity increase efficiency through an optimised manufacturing process that will put us well on track to achieving our sustainability targets.”
North Lanarkshire Council offers a range of support to local businesses, including funding, employability, training, help to find accommodation and skills development.
Gillian Shields of architects ConveryPrentyShields, said: “We are delighted to be providing architectural services on this exciting multi-million-pound project at Cumbernauld.
“This state-of-the-art printing facility, currently under construction by Heron Bros Ltd, will significantly increase Eurostampa’s capability to produce labels for the wine, spirits, champagne, food and chocolate industries.”
The council’s website Invest in North Lanarkshire – investinnorthlanarkshire.co.uk – provides information for businesses looking to set up or expand operations in the area.
*According to CoStar commercial real estate information (Scotland)