Street-level businesses around the V&A at Dundee will be crucial to the success of the project, it has been claimed.
Mike Galloway, Dundee City Council’s director of planning, said the development of new businesses in the city’s Waterfront area will be “key” to the city’s economic success.
Mr Galloway and Phillip Long, director of the V&A at Dundee, spoke at a lunch to update members of Dundee’s business community about the £80.1 million museum project at DD One on City Quay.
He said there is strong interest from companies investing in the Waterfront thanks to the V&A effect.
“Most of the major infrastructure works are now complete so we are moving towards encouraging investment and development,” he said.
“It is about creating an area that people are attracted to and an ambience that will make it a place people want to be and spend time in.
“The real key is what is happening on the ground floor of these sites. There are huge opportunities for businesses in Dundee, Angus, Fife and Perth and Kinross.”
Mr Galloway expects the shops, restaurants and other businesses that spring up around the Kengo Kuma-designed museum will be a mix of independent and national companies.
“Around 2,800 jobs have been created in the Waterfront so far and we are hopeful that when the project reaches maturity around 7,000 jobs will be supported,” he added.
Mr Long said the V&A will help transform Dundee and that developments around it will ensure visitors who come to Dundee will stay for longer or visit more often.
“If there is business development that provides economic developments and, of course, employment,” he said.
“Creating employment in Dundee is absolutely vital. We need to attract people to come and stay in Dundee and that is hugely important for Dundee and its economy.”
Alison Henderson, chief executive of Dundee and Angus Chamber of Commerce, said: “There will be many new jobs and scope for business growth as a result of these projects and the wider economic development that is coming.
“Dundee and Angus is a vibrant and ambitious place to be doing business.”
Dundee & Angus Chamber of Commerce
As the leading business membership organisation in Dundee & Angus and part of the worldwide long-established Chamber of Commerce brand, we help local businesses to connect, communicate and develop for business benefit.
