New Business Opportunities for Irvine Bay
29 June 2007
The first in a series of business briefings for local business men and women was held by Irvine Bay Urban Regeneration Company on Wednesday evening (27th June) at The Gailes Hotel, Irvine.
Around 90 people attended and heard of new business opportunities from Patrick Wiggins, Chief Executive of the Irvine Bay URC and Doug Smith, one of its Board Members and Chairman of CB Richard Ellis Scotland.
Patrick gave details of the URC's overall plan for the multi-million pound regeneration of the area which takes in the five towns of Ardrossan, Saltcoats, Stevenson, Kilwinning and Irvine .
He said that the primary focus was to encourage more investment into the area which in turn would provide more jobs, better housing and overall improve the quality of life around the coastal towns of Irvine Bay.
Patrick said:"A focus for us is the regeneration of our towns centres. We want them to become vibrant places for people to live, work and spend their leisure time.
"Overall our primary focus is helping to create jobs and wealth in the area and generally improve people's quality of life."
The business briefing also heard Doug Smith outline some tax advantages which were available to people investing in the renovation of former commercial buildings.
He explained that from April this year, new tax rules mean that many of our town centres are eligible for a tax scheme which allows owners and tenants of vacant property such as shops, offices, restaurants and workshops, to be brought back into use.
Similar business briefings will be held in the future and any business person in the Irvine Bay area who wishes to attend should contact Irvine Bay URC at 01294 608634 or visit the URC's web site at http://www.irvinebayurc.co.uk/
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For further information please contact Dorothy Fenwick, Communications Manager on 01294 608634 or 07703144763
Note to Editors.
Irvine Bay URC is supported by the Scottish Executive and its funding partners are North Ayrshire Council, Scottish Enterprise Ayrshire and Communities Scotland.