CITY COLLABORATION ENTERS NEW ERA
The Glasgow: Edinburgh Collaboration Initiative is set to enter its next phase with the appointment of Sara Thiam as Collaboration Manager.
Sara joins the Initiative from the City of Edinburgh Council where she has worked for the last six years leading on the Waterfront Communities Initiative and latterly as project manager for the City Centre Development Partnership.
Sara Thiam, newly appointed Manager for the Glasgow: Edinburgh Initiative, said: “I am extremely excited to be
taking on this challenge and working with an established team across both cities as we move forward. Cities are the key drivers of the Scottish economy and have undoubtedly played a large part in Scotland's success in recent years. But the current economic uncertainties mean that this approach is even more important to ensure that Scotland retains its place amongst our competitor cities across the world.
“As a lass from Linlithgow, I hold both Glasgow and Edinburgh close to my heart for different reasons and I am looking forward to working with partners from across all relevant agencies on how we can utilise the best of each city for the good of Scotland as a whole.”
Laura Gordon, the Collaboration Director, who has led the Initiative since its inception in August 2006 and has been crucial in ensuring the principles behind working together are ingrained in Scottish economic policy and within the targeted key sectors, will continue to lead the Initiative until her tenure comes to an end in February next year, when she will hand over to Sara. During this interim period, Laura will work closely with Sara, to ensure a seamless and smooth transition.
Laura Gordon said: “We’ve had some great successes over the last couple of years in developing the Initiative to this stage, where we are now planning for the long term and sustainable future for Glasgow: Edinburgh Collaboration. I am confident the need for Scotland’s two principal cities to work together is now firmly instilled in policy and recognised as a key driver for economic growth both locally and nationally.
“The Initiative has made great strides in advancing the case for Collaboration and I am extremely pleased to be handing the baton on to such a competent and enthusiastic successor, who I am sure will continue to build upon the firm foundations we have created. With Collaboration, Glasgow and Edinburgh are well positioned ahead of their competitor cities in the UK to take on the current economic downturn.”
George Ryan, Glasgow City Council’s Executive Member for Development and Regeneration, said: “As the Initiative enters its second phase and with the challenging economic times ahead the new Collaboration Manager will concentrate on embedding the ethos and activities of the project within the plans of each of the partners and continue to champion the case for collaboration between the two cities.
“Sara has a proven track record in project management working on major partnership programmes with UK and EU involvement and I’m sure she will bring those skills and experience as well as enthusiasm, drive commitment to this role.”
Cllr Tom Buchanan, Economic Development Leader at the City of Edinburgh Council, said: “Sara brings a wealth of experience in dealing with the challenges faced by 21st century cities. Through her work in Europe she also has significant knowledge in working with some of our rivals, which we can draw on. I look forward to working with Sara and wish Laura every success for the future.”
Jim McFarlane, managing director operations, Scottish Enterprise added: “This appointment is an important step in delivering the next stage of the Glasgow Edinburgh Collaboration Initiative and I wholeheartedly welcome Sara to the team. She will play a key role in the development of the long term collaboration strategy among the partners.
“I’d also like to take this opportunity to thank Laura for her energy, drive and commitment to the Initiative and wish her the best of luck as she moves on to new challenges."
Some of the Initiative’s key achievements during the Development phase include:
• Connectivity: Key influencer in the Scottish Government’s commitment of £1bn of transport investment in the central belt paving the way for journey times of 35 minutes, and up to 15 trains an hour connecting the cities
• Creative and Cultural Industries: Supported Glasgow’s bid to become UNESCO City of Music, along with Edinburgh’s UNESCO City of Literature team and through funding a study demonstrating the benefit to the Scottish economy of having two UNESCO cities, which formed part of the successful bid document. Scotland is the only country in Europe with two UNESCO Cities – the opportunities for joint promotion are extremely compelling;
• Tourism: Innovation EG – a “Dragon’s Den” style competition that brought together 44 rising stars and 22 mentors from across the tourism and hospitality sectors in Glasgow and Edinburgh to formulate and create innovative projects which will benefit tourism in Scotland proved a great success with innovative and creative entries from young talent across both cities;
• Life Sciences: Supporting the extension of the Nexxus West of Scotland Bio-Science Network to the East of the country, creating a Central Scotland hub of excellence in Life Sciences.
• International Promotion: In March this year at MIPIM, the world’s largest commercial property conference, the two cities demonstrated the impact in promoting themselves together internationally, presenting a far more compelling proposition for potential investors and developers;
• Inward Investment: Working with Scottish Development International, and further to the Lyons Review, Scotland needs to attract its fair share of public sector relocations de-centralised from London and the two cities, working together have succeeded in bringing more jobs to Scotland;
• Fresh Talent: Retaining and attracting talent is an issue for Scotland, so working with Strathclyde and Napier Universities, we were able to introduce foreign postgraduate students in tourism and hospitality to opportunities available to them upon graduation which proved a to be a great success.
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