Invest in East Ayrshire and be part of something bigger….This is the message from businesses and local support agencies to anyone thinking of investing in Scotland.

In the heart of South West Scotland’s landscape, East Ayrshire is a great place to live, work and invest.

We have an excellent quality of life with a growing economy, a strong sense of community, good educational opportunities and a choice of modern and traditional homes to meet all needs and budgets. Our proximity to ports, airports and the UK’s motorway network; our easy accessibility to both the central belt in Scotland being only 30 minutes’ drive from Glasgow and to the Northern Powerhouse in England; our highly skilled labour pool and the quality of our property portfolio all combine to make East Ayrshire an attractive proposition for investors.

Perhaps less well known is our industrial heritage and diversity of the business base that calls East Ayrshire home – we have strengths in key sectors and a number of internationally renowned companies keen to welcome new investors and to support the economy to grow.

Traditional industries, such as textiles and engineering are thriving. In Cumnock Emergency One is the leading manufacturer of fire engines in the UK, while Lochaven International produces the knitwear for the Harry Potter franchise and supplies garments to fashion houses Burberry and Prada.

Employing over 4000 people in food production and hospitality, the local food and drink sector supplies fine, home grown produce. Woody’s Ice-cream, Ethical Ales, a craft brewer and Grants of Scotland, a long established haggis producer are just a few of our many and varied food and drink producers thriving and supplying national and international markets.

East Ayrshire is also home to a range of unique businesses such as Olympic curling stone manufacturers, Kays of Scotland, Microtech Systems Ltd which manages patient record systems of health boards across the UK and McCallum Bagpipes whose exquisite highland and lowland pipes are exported across the globe.

East Ayrshire Council has a number of support mechanisms to help you to relocate and invest – our website Invest East Ayrshire (www.investeastayrshire.com) is a one stop shop for companies to tap into a wide network of assistance, giving them access to a wealth of advice and support to help them succeed.

Business support ranges from helping to find commercial property and recruiting, developing and training staff, to accessing funding to embark on new projects.

Our beReady business growth programme targets the development needs of businesses. Through beReady a business can access a team of specialists in sales and marketing, digital, procurement, people, innovation, and management development and is the route to financial assistance from East Ayrshire Council’s Business Grants Programme.

We can also offer a range of commercial property solutions, including industrial units, offices, retail premises and land available for new developments.

Moorfield Park

The recent completion and subsequent occupation of two new speculative industrial units at Moorfield Park, Kilmarnock highlights the demand for good quality modern industrial space within the area. Scotia Windows & Doors relocated from Bonnyton Industrial Estate, Kilmarnock to centralise their production in one unit. The other unit has been sub-divided to accommodate Kilmarnock Powder Coating’s relocation from another unit within the town and Dingbro Ltd have taken their first base in Kilmarnock. Proposals are currently underway for two further speculative units extending to 29,000 sq. ft. and the other unit comprising a terrace of six units of 5,900 sq. ft. each totalling 35,400 sq.ft.

Building on the success of the units at Moorfield Park and in response to demand for modern industrial space within East Ayrshire, the Ayrshire Growth Deal has announced funding to support the development of an Ayrshire Engineering Park at Moorfield as well The Ayrshire Manufacturing Corridor (AMIC) in Kilmarnock.

Ingram Enterprise Centre

Extensive refurbishment work has recently been completed on the Ingram Enterprise Centre in the heart of Kilmarnock, which offers tenants flexible serviced office units for small and start-up businesses with all-inclusive rental packages available.

Retail Development Cumnock

In Cumnock, the multimillion pound regeneration of the town centre has seen the restoration of many of the town’s beautiful historic buildings, providing renewed business, retail and residential accommodation. The landscape has been permanently altered with the demolition of the outdated 1970s Glaisnock Centre.

In its place is two new, more sympathetically designed retail developments fronting Townhead Street and Glasinock Street. The first phase provides seven new retail units which are fully let to a mix of local and national retailers whilst the recently completed phase two comprises a Farmfoods store and a further 6,000 sq.ft. of space available for lease. This space has been constructed to provide flexible accommodation, allowing it to be subdivided for separate occupation by a number of businesses if required.

So whatever your business, there is a network of sectors and companies in East Ayrshire who will welcome you and help you understand that this is a thriving, exciting place to do business. This is a special part of the country, proud of its past and ambitious for the future.

To speak to us and to find out more about how we can help you and to learn more about support available please contact 01563 578304 or
info@investeastayrshire.co.uk

Further information is available
www.investeastayrshire.com