CASE STUDY: My Shawlands, Glasgow
THE official BID campaign for Shawlands is a five-year plan for revitalising the once-busy shopping area.
Here, 30 units (or 9%) are empty – a figure that has remained the same since April 2017.
However, in that time, 39 new businesses have opened, demonstrating that most units don’t stay empty for long. In year one, £210,000 has been invested in the area (£120,000 raised by a levy from local businesses plus £90,000 from external funders).
Besides new businesses opening, shop fronts were refurbished, hanging baskets introduced and community events – including a fair and community clean-up – staged in a bid to drive visitors back.
Now in year two, My Shawlands’ coordinator Lisa Mclaughlin explains, “Shawlands is at the beginning of revival. Some really interesting businesses have invested in the area and most units do not stay empty for long. We are expecting an announcement regarding the Shawlands Arcade shopping centre in the next few months. This will be an exciting revival of the current eyesore!
“A few businesses have outgrown their premises and moved to larger units a few doors down – it is encouraging that they want to stay in Shawlands. Others have had major refurbishment projects and that makes a huge difference to the high street.
“The biggest challenges are trying to keep the businesses positive when another business closes; cleanliness of the streetscape; parking; encouraging new visitors to Shawlands; and landlords with empty properties not opening a business in the unit or letting it to others.
“Before the BID, Shawlands was looking a little sad, in need of some care and attention. There were a lot of people with ideas and aspirations but struggling to make any real changes – as a BID we can now work collaboratively to achieve these goals. The BID is a five-year plan and we are just commencing year two so we have so much more to achieve.”