Sitting at the heart of Scotland, Stirling’s strategic location gives national and global connectivity by air, road and rail – the city is just an hour away from 60% of Scotland’s population. Research shows Stirling is Scotland’s most entrepreneurial and affordable city; the best place to start a business in Scotland, and the eighth best in the UK.
Opportunity
Kildean Business Park is one of Stirling’s key strategic development sites and recently secured infrastructure funding from the Scottish Government through Stirling’s City Region Deal.
This development is strategically placed, adjacent to the highly successful Castle Business Park (22,300 metres squared) and Junction 10 of the M9 motorway and enjoys a spectacular view of Stirling Castle.
Comprising 15.78 hectares, Kildean is a mixed use, retail, hotel and leisure development at the entrance to a proposed 37,160 metres squared business park with a GDV of £200million.
Outline planning and the master plan have been approved for a proposed mixed use development, including a business park, hotel/leisure, restaurant/pub and ancillary retail.
A recent office demand study evidenced an immediate demand for office space of all sizes. There is also an identified need to extend the provision of hotels of scale to service both leisure and business tourism to the region.
Tourism development
Callander is the largest town in Stirling and in the stunning Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. A strategic development site to the south of the town presents an exciting opportunity for a major tourism development.
Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park offers some of the world’s most spectacular scenery and its natural environment provides a wealth of recreation and leisure opportunities. A possible long-term development opportunity is identified at Callander for a large-scale tourism resort of international significance. This would directly contribute to the Government’s Scottish Tourism Framework for Change and also enhance the role of Callander as a tourism gateway to the National Park.
The number of visitors that the area attracts combines with a significant wider market to present an opportunity for Stirling and for Scotland to create a high quality holiday resort. The rural area of Stirling allows for the right environmental location for such a development whilst remaining easily accessible to a large domestic and overseas market. There are several such resorts being very profitably run in England and across Europe, many in countries with less attractors than Scotland and Scottish Development International have identified the development of such a facility as a real opportunity for an investor and for Scotland. There are few locations in Scotland which would present better credentials than our Callander site.
Any such development would have exceptional opportunities to capitalise on the major trends in Scotland’s tourism. The rise in popularity of adventure tourism and outdoor pursuits in particular creates an unprecedented opportunity for Scottish tourism. A strong partnership is in place with Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park Authority and the development site is already zoned for this type of development.
The proposal is backed and supported by the Scottish Government, both directly and through Scottish Development International, and has been given funding through Stirling’s City Region Deal to support the next stage of development.
Leader of Stirling Council, Councillor Scott Farmer, said:“Stirling is delivering real change with our City Region Deal, which gives us a platform of £205m from the Scottish and UK Governments and our partners. The deal includes delivery of an Aqua Culture centre through the University, bringing jobs, investment and innovation to the area. Support for our Digital District will also be bolstered, while one of our core strengths – culture and tourism – will receive a massive backing by this investment.
“We aim to build these projects to delivery phase and complete the task we set ourselves – to make Stirling a centre of business and innovation excellence and an economic and cultural powerhouse.”
Contact Stuart Oliver for more information, tel: +44 (0)1786 233158 or email olivers@stirling.gov.uk
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