Well Rounded View
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Scotland’s Canals – A Vast, Untapped Opportunity
by Steve Dunlop, Director, British Waterways Scotland
Green electricity, natural flood alleviation and drainage, urban and rural regeneration in the most deprived areas, the world’s first rotating boatlift, floating, sustainable ‘eco hotels’ and green corridors. The innovative spirit which fired the creation of the Scottish canal network which made the Industrial Revolution possible almost 200 years ago is still alive and kicking and driving us to explore radical and wide ranging sustainable applications of our waterways today.
But, as the country hurtles towards public sector spending cuts, these applications are not about the added value which we, as sponsored and funded by Scottish Government, can bring in the good times. Rather they reflect the vibrancy and vision of an organisation committed to making a vital contribution to the Government’s social, economic and environmental agendas as we forge our way through the global downturn. Indeed, the most important environmental legislation in 40 years, the EU Water Framework Directive, recognises water as a critical component of a nation’s social and economic stability and health and its ability to perform as a trading block.
The canal network is a proven catalyst for successful regeneration and is already making a significant social and economic impact. Independent research shows that, up until 2007, our 137 mile long network stimulated £282m of private investment and supported almost 5,000 jobs. Looking forward, projections show that our restoration of the Lowland Canal network, begun with our £78m Millennium Link project connecting the Forth & Clyde and Union canals, has the potential to generate £1.5bn of investment and over 12,500 jobs by 2015 if investment in Scotland’s canals continues at the current level.
In real terms, in a world of indistinguishable retail parks and linear urban landscapes, the essence of our activity is to revitalise communities putting the waterway back into the heart and creating the places where people want to live, work and play. We are reconnecting those same communities, often in the most deprived areas, with other communities. Take our award-winning masterplans for Speirs Wharf and Maryhill Locks in Glasgow created with our partners in the Glasgow Canal Regeneration Project, Glasgow City Council and ISIS. Recognised as ‘exemplary’ in the Scottish Government’s Scottish Sustainable Communities Initiative and also by the British Urban Regeneration Association’s Waterways Renaissance Awards (Speirs Wharf), these masterplans will transform the north of the city, creating a thriving canalside environment just minutes from the city centre, with new residential amenity and an artistic hub. Our proposals for an iconic footbridge ‘held aloft’ by a 30 metre high ‘Bigman’ sculpture designed by Andy Scott, will help draw visitors and tourists from the city centre, along the revitalised canal into Maryhill, an area in much need of attention.
Our award-winning landmark development Edinburgh Quay, where Tods Murray’s head office is located, is a joint venture with Miller Developments, has delivered over 24,000 sq metres of high quality mixed use office, residential and leisure space, over 1,000 local jobs and an estimated £86.6m into the Edinburgh economy. It has also proved a catalyst for the extension of the Exchange District west along Fountainbridge, attracting several high profile financial services sector tenants.
Our aspirations for the Crinan and Caledonian Canals are as passionate. As well as a community-led masterplan for breathing new life into rural Ardrishaig on the Crinan, we are delivering new ways of increasing, at 14%, our already significant contribution to the tourism spend in the Highlands. This includes a similar bustling canal quarter connecting the heart of Inverness with the canal and marina.
If we as a country are to draw the very best out of this tremendous shared and inclusive asset and ensure its perpetuity, sustainability and contribution to a modern Scotland, we must banish the staid image of sleepy back-water canals and embrace a more modern view of our waterway network. This is not to diminish the wonderful built heritage of these Scheduled Ancient Monuments. British Waterways Scotland remains a passionate steward of a network which includes stunning aqueducts (one of which is the second longest in Britain), impressive flights of historic locks and swing bridges and many listed structures and buildings, and equally committed to creating high quality amenities for our international boating traffic and tourists, but we need to keep on challenging the network’s capacity and capabilities to contribute in fresh ways to Scotland’s industry, economy and social well-being.
Indeed the old adage stands true – we are only limited by our imagination. Businesses are already coming to us with ideas but we want more to waken up to the opportunities. This means developers considering our efficient infrastructure when planning drainage systems. We can offer a natural and cost effective solution and help reduce the impact on an already overburdened local system. This means businesses considering the benefits of locating by a waterway. In addition to an attractive environment for employees, we can heat and cool premises in an energy efficient way just like at the country’s first ‘eco pub’, The Boat Inn at Auchinstarry Basin near Kilsyth, which we developed in partnership with Scottish & Newcastle, or provide premises with clean water for industry. The list goes on.
Our waterways are healthier than ever. We are in a unique position of having succeeded in nurturing a high quality green corridor in and around an ancient man-made structure whilst also managing the movement of water for navigation and some of the utility uses above, which is no mean feat. Today, with a 34lb carp landed recently on the Forth & Clyde Canal and a significant proportion of Scotland’s biodiversity priority species living in and around the canals, the waterway network is not only an attractive recreational environment and energy resource but equally a robust ecological system which contributes to our national green network.
With our partners Falkirk Council and Central Scotland Forest Trust, we will also soon extend our green corridor and create a new canal link to ease entry to the eastern end of the Forth & Clyde Canal from the River Carron within the innovative and vast HELIX eco-park project between Falkirk and Grangemouth. With our partners at West Dunbartonshire Council, we are currently considering the feasibility of a new Lomond Canal. As well as an innovative solution to the alleviation of flood risks, the proposed waterway along the Leven Valley forms part of hugely exciting aspirations to unlock development opportunities across West Dunbartonshire, from Bowling (the western gateway to the Forth & Clyde Canal) to Balloch and Loch Lomond & The Trossachs National Park.
There is no doubt that this is an immensely exciting and important time for the canal network in Scotland. We are already delivering real, quantifiable economic and social value but there is so much more we can tease out of our waterways with the imagination and investment of like-mind aspirational partners within the private and public sector. We just need to, collectively, fire our imagination.
Steve Dunlop
Director, British Waterways Scotland
British Waterways Scotland would welcome the opportunity to discuss any of the above comments or new ideas with prospective partners or businesses. Please email joanna.harrison@britishwaterways.co.uk in the first instance.
View Steve Dunlop’s biography
View British Waterways Scotland’s website
View Tods Murray’s Environmental service
View Tods Murray’s Capital Projects service
View Tods Murray’s Commercial Property service
Contact Tods Murray’s Stephen Colliston