Pioneering Commercial Property in Leith

The pioneering Tax Incremental Finance (TIF), which will make its debut in the UK as part of the funding for a £700 million regeneration of the waterfront at Leith, Edinburgh’s port, could be the answer to stalled revitalisation plans in other parts of the country. The Scottish government has given the go ahead (and is considering similar schemes in Glasgow and North Lanarkshire) and will contribute £84 million to the overall cost to finance key infrastructure investment against future increases in business rates income.

The concept is that regeneration and all that goes with it will attract more businesses to the area, thus increasing tax revenues. John Handley of planning consultants DPP said: “TIF schemes are much easier to get off the ground in Scotland following the devolved tax raising powers of the Scottish Parliament. There would need to be a change in primary legislation for such schemes to work in England and Wales to allow local authorities to direct tax revenues in this way.” Meanwhile, there has been an improvement in the office take up in the third quarter in Edinburgh, reports Jones Lang LaSalle, with a 30% rise over the previous three months to 15,793 sq.metres. Although the level of enquiries declined compared with March-June, this may be due to uncertainty over the government’s spending cuts. The supply situation is easing after peaking at the end of 2009 and will continue to do so because of a lack of new development (as in the rest of the UK). An important deal was the letting at Waverley Gate which has remained stubbornly empty for years.

The outlook has been enhanced by the expansion of Tesco and Virgin’s financial operations who are both seeking office space. Tesco has short listed six properties for a 3,716 sq.metres requirement. It needs to move in early 2011. Virgin is seeking a smaller space, though that would be considerably larger than its initial office at Venue Studios.

The Scotland Commercial Property Register

The Scotland Commercial Property Register for Sctoland is a leading UK business property publication from Martin Austen Publishing. The aim of the publication is to offer a simple and effective means of finding Offices Space, Serviced Offices and Commercial Property in Scotland . You can also find the latest commercial property news for Scotland.