The Tay Cities Deal has reached its halfway point, five years since being signed, with more than £152 million public funding already handed out.
More than £300m from Holyrood and Westminster and £400m from business, public sector and educational organisations was promised in what was dubbed a “transformational” agreement in 2020.
A combined investment of £150m each from the Scottish and UK Governments over a 10-year period, to March 2030, was agreed. The benefits of the deal should be delivered by 2035.
Heads of terms were signed in November 2018, when Covid was a word which scarcely troubled those outside of the scientific community.
Since then the world has changed dramatically. The cost of living crisis, energy price hikes, building material cost surges, Brexit and global events like the war in Ukraine have impacted Dundee, Fife, Angus and Perth and Kinross like everywhere else.
Here are eight projects which have had their full allocation of public money and what that means.
Tay Cities Biomedical Cluster
All £25m of the public funds allocated to develop the biomedical cluster has been handed over.
Building on the region’s existing life sciences reputation, its most publicly visible part is the three-story, £40m Innovation Hub on Hawkhill, Dundee.
Expanding the cluster has already created 28 new jobs and 39 construction jobs. It is expected to open by spring this year.
The Hub will provide laboratory and office space to “anchor and support biopharma, biotech, informatics and medical technology companies”, Deal bosses said.
This would allow start-ups and spin-outs from Dundee University to flourish, much like the Dundee-founded Exscientia, now a billion-dollar company. The university pocketed a windfall worth more than £40 million after it was sold on.
And £40m in additional external funding has been leveraged for the Cluster since the deal was agreed.
But its development has not been without problem.
The cash contributed from the University of Dundee has been highlighted as one of the many factors contributing to the university’s £35m financial black hole.
And the Tay Cities joint committee flagged risks including not being able to attract enough research and development funding or identify enough emerging companies with growth potential to the Hub.
They said “active” marketing of the Hub is being pursued to “mitigate” the risks, as well as the research and business support services of the university committing to “supporting academics, clinicians and the industry in securing external research and development grant funding”.
James Hutton Institute
The James Hutton Institute in Invergowrie was one of the big benefactors of the Tay Cities Deal.
Its International Barley Hub has had £20m from the UK Government and £15m from the Scottish Government.
It aims to be “a world leading research facility for barley science”, one of the main ingredients in whisky.
Since finishing in summer 2024, the development has created 39 new jobs, and protected 33.
And the Advanced Plant Growth Centre, also at James Hutton, created 63 new jobs and protected 127.
It received £25m from Westminster and £2m from Holyrood.
The centre is home to world-leading plant science, delivering innovative solutions for food and environmental sustainability.
In total, around £16m in additional funding has been leveraged at the James Hutton Institute since the public funding was provided.
Perth Museum
Perth Museum opened to much fanfare in 2024 and includes the Stone of Destiny attraction.
It received £10m from the UK Government and has welcomed hundreds of thousands of visitors in its first year. This was part of an overall £27m spent to build and develop it.
Perth Museum created 30 new jobs for the city and 20 construction jobs.
It also secured £16.8m in leverage additional funding.
Pitlochry Festival Theatre
Pitlochry Festival Theatre, which counts Aberfeldy-born, Carnoustie-educated Hollywood star Alan Cumming as its artistic director, received its full tranche of Scottish Government funding to the tune of £10m.
The new, 172-seater theatre was completed in 2024. Carbon reducing measures, including the conversion of the theatre to air-sourced heat pump technology, has “significantly” reduced the theatre’s CO2 footprint.
Eden Campus
The development of the Eden Campus in Guardbridge received £24.5m from the UK Government and close to £2m from the Scottish Government.
It has created 69 new jobs and 490 construction ones. Around 500 existing jobs have been protected while £56.4m in additional funding has been leveraged.
Part of a £100m St Andrews University project, it has transformed the old paper mill in Guardbridge.
The Enterprise Hub, due to open in December, will support the start-up and growth of new and emerging companies focused on low carbon innovation.
And the Stretch Dome Simulator created seven new jobs, leveraging £350,000 in additional funding.
The Dome gives scientists the ability to test their theories and generate solutions in rapid time.
Eden Campus has a number of tenants, including distillery Eden Mill, which will open its new visitor centre this year.
Rural Broadband
More than £2m from the UK Government to improve high speed broadband for rural Angus and Perth and Kinross council areas, the funding created 250 jobs and leveraged an extra £3.9m in additional investments. It was completed in 2022.
Fixed radio masts enabled high quality wireless solutions, allowing Superfast Broadband to reach remote and rural residences and businesses.
Perth and Kinross re-used and extended existing fibre broadband to connect new rural properties, as well as connecting over one hundred rural sites including, schools, libraries and museums.
Mark Flynn
Addressing the report, Tay Cities Deal joint committee chair and Dundee City Council leader Mark Flynn said: “The impressive figures in the report signal the kind of growth that was intended when the deal was put together five years ago.
“It indicates that partnership working across the public and private sectors does work, thanks to the effort and commitment of all of those involved. Here’s to the next five years.”
Conversation