Riverside Inverclyde

ri VISION

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Background to ri

Formally incorporated in 2006, ri is an Urban Regeneration Company limited by guarantee, with charitable status and two member organisations; Inverclyde Council and Scottish Enterprise. In 2007/08 a property holding subsidiary was created – ri (Property Holdings) Ltd – to develop and implement commercial property projects within the operating area of ri as defined in its Memorandum and Articles of Association. ri (Property Holdings) Ltd is limited by shares with the level of both authorised and issued share capital set at £100. In 2008/09, a Limited Liability Partnership was entered into with Peel Holdings Ltd to oversee the redevelopment of James Watt Dock. In the same year ri become a major partner in Sail Inverclyde, the charity that recently delivered the 2011 Tall Ships’ Races to Greenock.

As a public/private partnership ri has been designed to secure the long-term economic growth of Inverclyde. It has a twin-track approach of “going for growth” through the exploitation of existing and new opportunities and “spreading the benefits of growth” to the local resident and business communities.

Specifically ri is focused on addressing a single strategic objective: “to advance economic growth through the exploitation of opportunity for the benefit of the business and residential community of Inverclyde”.

In this context, ri’s area of operation is defined as “areas of economic and social deprivation in Inverclyde”. The primary focus of its physical interventions is the waterfront areas of Greenock and Port Glasgow but its sphere of influence extends to the whole of Inverclyde, spreading the economic benefit of change and working with local and national partners to deliver emerging projects.

In addition to the URC (charitable company) and ri (Property Holdings)Ltd, ri helped establish Sail Inverclyde, the partnership that delivered the Tall Ships in 2011 and other maritime events including ASTO (Association of Sail Training Organisations) 2009. The James Watt Dock Limited Liability Partnership was also formed in 2008 to deliver the regeneration of the Sugar Warehouse and James Watt Dock.

Investment and outputs

The ri Business Plan (January 2007) concentrated on the public sector investment plans for the first four years of operation but it also demonstrated how public sector investment of circa £100M over the anticipated lifetime of the project can achieve a range of economic benefits.

Development outputs

The direct physical output from ri-assisted projects is assessed as being:

The provision of 77 hectares (ha) of development land for sustainable economic after uses.

This development land and associated river frontage is currently assessed as having the potential, over the lifetime of ri, to accommodate:

35,000 m²of business space configured in line with occupier demand
7,000 m² of retail and leisure space uses
2,285 housing units
More than 500 berths for leisure craft

Economic outcomes

Over 10 years these development outputs are assessed as providing the potential to generate:

Gross employment of 2,600 Full Time Equivalent (FTE) jobs
Accommodation for 4,570 residents
Annual Gross Value Added (GVA) of £90M calculated by employees accommodated
110 FTE construction jobs

The economic impacts and outputs are monitored over the period of the Business Plan to ensure that they remain realistic and are stretching enough for the company.

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