The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Fife hoping to land hub
HEATHROW: Expansion could create 16,000 jobs and £200m of construction
The commercial property market in Fife is all set for take-off.
This follows the backing by MPs last month of plans to build a third runway at Heathrow Airport.
Scotland is guaranteed a logistics hub as part of the development and Fife finds itself in the unrivalled position of having four out of the 10 Scottish sites in contention.
A memorandum of understanding between the Scottish Government and Heathrow on the airport’s expansion committed to the creation of 16,000 jobs in Scotland, with a £200 million share of construction work and £10m of investment in new domestic routes.
The 10 Scottish sites in the running to host the logistics hub, which will participate in the off-site construction for the new runway, were revealed in March.
The hub will pre-assemble components off-site before transporting them in consolidated loads to Heathrow when needed.
Should Fife be chosen, the decision would provide a welcome boost to the region’s commercial property sector, which is already hoping to enjoy a new lease of life following plans to construct new industrial and commercial stock.
It is hoped this stock will be part of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal which aims to create new economic opportunities and provide more than 21,000 new jobs, with investment of up to £600m over the next 15 years.
If all goes according to plan, then it could transpire that the construction of the Queensferry Crossing has heralded the start of a new era of activity in Fife’s commercial property sector.