Scottish Cities Alliance

In recent years, Glasgow has experienced a rapid rise through the ranks of the world’s top tech cities. Its remarkable evolution has seen it emerge as the third top tech destination in the UK outside London, as reported in CBRE’s UK Tech Cities report.

Further to that, the Glasgow City Region has been named as one of three pilot areas in the UK to share £100m funding for a new innovation and research accelerator, as part of the UK government’s plans for levelling up. In the last five years Glasgow has consistently ranked in the top 20% of the Top 100 most innovative cities in the world.

Glasgow’s success is the result of several factors: ambitious and collaborative city leadership, strong academic institutions, a history of scientific excellence, and an ability to attract world-leading talent, as well as the vital funding needed for businesses to grow. The city is further boosted by a high quality, low cost-of-living environment, providing homes for entrepreneurs and startups, and sustained by significant graduate retention.

It’s for these reasons Bruntwood SciTech has selected Glasgow as the location for its next innovation cluster, which is its first outside of England.

Glasgow’s first large scale commercial tech hub

Bruntwood SciTech – a joint venture between Bruntwood, Legal & General, and Greater Manchester Pension Fund (GMPF) – is the largest dedicated property platform serving the UK’s innovation economy, with plans to create a £5 billion UK-wide portfolio that can support 2,600 high-growth businesses by 2032. It has acquired the iconic Grade II-listed Met Tower as the location for Glasgow’s first large scale, high growth enterprise tech hub. This adds to its existing portfolio of nine campuses and 31 city centre innovation hubs across the UK, which combine lab and office space catering for the smallest of start-ups, all the way through to large corporates looking for their national or international HQs.

Having experience of investing in cities with innovation potential, Bruntwood SciTech was attracted to Glasgow’s tech ecosystem, which currently has an enterprise value of £3.4bn – an 89% increase since 2018. The ecosystem features three distinct university-anchored Innovation Districts that capitalise on two of Glasgow’s renowned higher and further education institutions –  the University of Strathclyde and the University of Glasgow. The ecosystem taps into these institutions’ wealth of talent, research, and innovation capability, complementing the city’s wider academic landscape that includes Glasgow Caledonian University and City of Glasgow College.

The city’s sectoral strengths across highly investible clusters include advanced manufacturing, net zero/climate technologies, the space economy, fintech, digital and creative economies, health tech and precision medicine. This all contributed to Bruntwood SciTech’s decision to expand its network in Scotland. In particular, Glasgow’s specialisms in R&D, along with its work in 5G, digital health, quantum technology, space and advanced materials.

Following positive early conversations with Glasgow City Innovation District, Glasgow City Council, the University of Strathclyde, and Glasgow Chamber of Commerce, Bruntwood SciTech valued the city’s welcoming attitude and a clear collaborative approach among civic leaders and academia, who want to see tech innovation and investment, not least from venture capitalists, grow across the region.

Daron Williams, Building Consultancy Director at Bruntwood SciTech, who is leading the Met Tower project said: Glasgow is already on its way to becoming a world-leading tech hub and one of the UK’s fastest growing clusters, and with approval of our plans now confirmed we’re very much looking forward to Met Tower becoming the beacon for the tech community in the city. We’re proud to be playing our part in galvanising the tech momentum in this city and couldn’t be better placed to do so in the heart of the city centre and Innovation District – surrounded by two brilliant universities, an exceptional College, and several established alternative training providers who will ensure that the businesses who locate to Met Tower can tap into a strong, highly skilled talent pool.

We said when we acquired the site last year that we would be working with momentum to bring this iconic building back into use after so many years being left vacant, and we’ve already been readying the site throughout this year for construction. This approval enables us to continue progressing forwards and whilst the site preparations continue the rest of this year we’ll be firming up our final design details and getting ready to start the refurbishment of Met Tower in 2024.

Space for innovation and collaboration

The project will involve a retrofit of the 14-storey Met Tower which has been vacant for almost 10 years, along with the addition of a new adjacent 10-storey tower. The two buildings will offer 200,000sq ft of state-of-the-art serviced and leased office space and provide much-needed commercial space for tech and digital businesses in the city centre. Met Tower’s forthcoming £60m transformation, which recently received planning approval, will see the iconic structure evolve into a hub where tech and digital university spinouts, startups, scaleups, and global tech businesses will co-locate and benefit from being part of an innovative, collaborative tech cluster, with world-class workspace available for two people through to large businesses requiring multiple 10,000 sq ft floors.

As part of a strategy that recognises flexibility and encourages inward investment, the space will be offered to businesses on flexible leases so they can expand or contract as necessary. Companies can sign up for a short-term lease to see if the space and the city meet their needs, making it an easier, low-barrier decision than a daunting long-term commitment.

Mirroring Glasgow’s commitments and expertise in net zero and sustainable technologies, both buildings have been designed in line with the UKGBC and LETI net zero carbon targets for operational and embodied carbon. The new Met Tower will be net zero carbon in construction and both buildings will be net zero operationally in their shared spaces. Construction activity at Met Tower is expected to retain as much of the building’s existing structure as possible, significantly reducing the embodied carbon impact of the re-development. The approved plans also include carefully selected materials to reduce the environmental impact of the building, and vertical fins for active solar shading. Both buildings have been designed in line with smart technology and wellbeing principles and will feature extensive biophilia.

With its excellent location opposite Queen Street railway station, the Tower will also become a new hub for tech events and Meetups in the city, connecting with wider partners across its innovation ecosystem and enhancing collaboration and new connections for businesses to grow..

New images have revealed the scale and quality of what can be expected from the new-look Met Tower, including a 60-person rooftop flexible event space which will offer unrivalled views across the city, the versatile breakout lounge space for all start ups, scaleups and large businesses in the building to use and collaborate in, and its 16 person boardroom.

Working closely with the Glasgow City Innovation District, Bruntwood SciTech will become a crucial part of Glasgow’s business and tech ecosystem. Glasgow is set to benefit from its expertise in creating partnerships with other cities, pursuing funding opportunities, and offering access to new markets and highly skilled talent. Bruntwood SciTech’s experience as an intermediary for creating and developing relationships for its occupiers while helping them scale-up will be a boost for Glasgow’s science and tech community, offering the city access to Bruntwood SciTech’s established network of 1100 companies throughout the UK.

The vision of both Glasgow and Bruntwood SciTech is for the new Met Tower to act as a tech beacon for the city, attracting a range of innovative tech and digital companies, from newly founded firms to well established entities. The development is the latest to show how the opportunities for growth, co-location, collaboration, and innovation mark Glasgow out as one of the UK’s best places to be for tech.

Alisdair Gunn, Project Director for Glasgow City Innovation District, said: We are delighted to be working with Bruntwood SciTech to bring an exciting new office and co-working space for science and tech businesses.  This will help further cement Glasgow’s growing reputation as an innovation hub and support the growing innovation ecosystem.

Met Tower is anticipated to complete its refurbishment and open in Winter 2025. For more information or to enquire about workspace in Met Tower click here.