£37.8m UK Government Local Growth Fund provides Green Light for Major New Housing and Green Skills Hubs

Five new skills training centres across South East Scotland are to be created with £25m of UK Government funding, it was announced today.

The investment is part of an overall award of £37.8m for Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region from the UK Government's Local Growth Fund and will support future housing delivery, retrofit and green economy jobs in the region. Additionally, the funds will drive regional employability and business growth initiatives, while financing transport planning and research into the impact of AI.

The UK Government has now released £14.09m to Edinburgh and South East Scotland Regional Partnership after signing off on its locally designed three-year Local Growth Fund investment plan, which targets areas with the lowest household incomes to create jobs and boost living standards. Funding for Years 2 and 3 will be rolled out as the region progresses through its plans.

Scottish Secretary Douglas Alexander said: "Today the UK Government is releasing more than £14 million to Edinburgh and South East Scotland partners who know their communities best.
 
“These funds will be crucial for addressing skills shortages, driving green innovation and removing barriers to local employment and infrastructure development.
 
“The UK Government is committed to empowering local communities by spreading power throughout the country. These funds will support local leaders throughout Scotland to create skilled jobs, help start up businesses and revive our local high streets."

Mr Alexander visited the West Lothian College Campus today, to launch the UK Local Growth Fund, see the site of the future training facility and meet students. 

A partnership between the four regional colleges of Borders, Edinburgh, Fife, and West Lothian plans to train over 20,000 new entrants across the region over the coming decade as well as upskill existing workers.

South East Scotland is the fastest growing region in Scotland, with some of the highest housing demand for now and into the future. The new training hubs will be strategically important in the delivery of 40,000 new homes across the region’s seven strategic housing sites.

The training centre in the South of Scotland will also benefit from Scottish Government funding through the Borderlands Inclusive Growth Deal.

Cllr Norman Hampshire, Convener of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Partnership, said: “These training centres will empower thousands of residents across the region to upskill and launch high-quality careers in construction and green technologies like solar and heat pump installation.”

According to a report undertaken by the University of Edinburgh and West Lothian College, the region has a construction workforce of 57,000, of which 21,000 (34%) commute for work into the region from other parts of Scotland daily. The study identified that the region requires an additional 20,000 new entrants, upskilling roles and replacement construction workforce over the next 10 years.

The development bid proposal for the Housing and Net Zero Accelerator Hub (HaNZAH) training centres was jointly led by Simon Earp (Vice Principal at West Lothian Collage) and Professor Sean Smith (Chair of Future Construction at the University of Edinburgh).

In a joint statement the lead bid developers wish to acknowledge the support, input and consultations involving a wide range of key stakeholders from across the region. These included the bid proposal steering group involving construction, engineering and vice principal staff at Edinburgh College, Fife College, Borders College, West Lothian College and HCI Skills Gateway led by Edinburgh Napier University.

The underpinning data was supported by Fast Followers programme funded by Innovate UK and HCI Skills Gateway which assisted in reaching over 150 organisations including SMEs, public bodies, training providers and community groups. The analysis, presentations and reports were supported by the Centre for Net Zero High Density Buildings (CeNZ-HighDB) funded by UKRI.

The outline bid proposal was presented to a range of regional committees, which all provided valuable feedback and input, involving the IRES Board, HE-FE Committee, Regional Housing Board, Elected Members Oversight Committee (EMOC), Regional Enterprise Council, Joint Committee, Directors’ Group and the Executive Board involving senior executives and Leaders from the regions six local authorities.

Finally, the HaNZAH bid development team and steering group wish to acknowledge the excellent support throughout the bid development process from the Programme Management Office team based within the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Partnership.

Blindwells prospectus published – seeking Scottish and UK Government support & investment for future development

The Blindwells Development Area is the largest of seven strategic sites included in The Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal (ESES Deal) which have been identified as being able to deliver new housing at pace and scale in the areas where national need and demand is greatest.

 A new Blindwells Prospectus has now been published, setting out the potential benefits that the site could bring locally, regionally, nationally and to the UK as a whole. It highlights the importance of planned support and investment both now and in the years beyond the ESES Deal period. East Lothian Council, working with private sector partners, is seeking to unlock these strategic benefits through the development of a business case under the ESES Deal for Government consideration.

Blindwells New settlement prospectus - front cover

 Government and wider public and private sector support will be essential to realise the full potential of Blindwells as a well-planned, well-connected new settlement with economic opportunities as well as warm, energy efficient homes, including affordable homes, which can help to address inequality, child poverty and productivity across the region. Government approval of the associated business case stages is necessary to ensure that the potential expansion of Blindwells can be progressed in a properly planned, managed and funded way.

The Prospectus follows the decision taken in June 2025 by East Lothian Council and the ESES Deal Joint Committee to approve a Strategic Outline Business Case for Blindwells, for submission to the Scottish and UK Governments. Since then, both Governments have acknowledged the importance of the project to the ESES Deal programme, and the Scottish Government has identified it as a strategic ambition in its Housing Emergency Action Plan, published in September 2025.

The Prospectus is a public document compiled by the council and the ESES Deal with Blindwells landowners and developers that can be used to help engage stakeholders during the next steps of business case development – focusing on the importance of partnership working, an infrastructure-first approach and financial innovation in capital and revenue terms, with the need for an appropriate delivery vehicle to be established.

As a long-term project, over the next 30 years, Blindwells new settlement has the capacity to deliver over 10,000 new homes, of which at least 2,500 will be affordable homes, as well as a town centre with employment and wider commercial and other opportunities. It could increase East Lothian’s population by around 25% and become a new regional hub for service provision and business, commercial and leisure activity.

East Lothian Council Leader Norman Hampshire said: “East Lothian is one of Scotland’s smallest local authorities with one of the lowest levels of revenue support grant nationally, but we are also one of the fastest growing areas in Scotland. All of this means that to deliver the essential infrastructure required to enable Blindwells to reach its full potential as an influential, innovative, healthy and net zero place that will be of national importance, we must leverage our position as part of the Edinburgh and South East Scotland City Region Deal to gain the financial support that it can provide, plus attracting a large amount of private and public sector investment well into the future. The publication of this prospectus is an important step in this project and allows anyone with an interest to see at a glance the benefits it could deliver to our local communities and nationally.”

The next steps include the development of an Outline Business Case, which if approved by Government will be followed by Full Business Cases, which could ultimately lead to implementation subject to business case approvals and wider statutory processes.

South East Regional Delivery Alliance Case Study Video

The South East Regional Delivery Alliance (SE-RDA) was established in 2024 to support the delivery of new build affordable housing through aggregating demand, promoting higher performing homes towards net zero carbon, enabling more efficient procurement and knowledge sharing.

We spoke to the project team working on the SE-RDA to find out more:

You can watch other videos which show how the City Region Deal’s projects and programmes are helping people, in the Annual Report 2024/25

New collaborative approach to deliver more affordable housing

A new public sector alliance has been created to accelerate the delivery of much-needed affordable homes for rent in the south east of Scotland.

The alliance will provide local authorities and housing associations with an online knowledge hub hosting freely-available home designs that utilise modern methods of construction.

The South East Regional Delivery Alliance (SE-RDA) has been established by bringing together six councils - The City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Fife, Midlothian, Scottish Borders and West Lothian - supported by public sector infrastructure body, the Scottish Futures Trust.

To speed up delivery, the SE-RDA has built up a library of net-zero ready house and flat types that have been designed in collaboration with the house building industry and can be downloaded from the SE-RDA knowledge hub and shared with appointed contractors and design teams.

Property layouts range from a 1 bedroom flat up to a 4 bedroom house and can be customised in various configurations, with a number of designs incorporating wheelchair accessibility.

In addition, by bringing six local authorities together, a strong pipeline of proposed housing supply can be established, providing the construction sector with greater insight into expected future work. 

Pilot 1 in Granton, Edinburgh

Find out more at the South East Regional Delivery Alliance (SE-RDA) website.

New Strategic Sites Programme to Unlock 41,000 Homes Across Edinburgh and South East Scotland

A programme to deliver seven strategic housing sites across Edinburgh and South East Scotland has been published.

The Strategic Sites Programme, approved by the City Region Deal Joint Committee in October, represents one of Scotland's most ambitious housing initiatives, with potential to transform communities from Edinburgh's Waterfront to Tweedbank.

Strategic Sites Programme

The Programme aims to unlock the development of 41,000 new homes, including 10,000 affordable homes, across Blindwells, Calderwood, Dunfermline, Edinburgh's Waterfront, Shawfair, Tweedbank and Winchburgh.

 Economic analysis shows these developments could support 8,000 jobs and generate £30 billion in economic value for the region. The programme outlines how strategic collaboration between regional partners and both the UK and Scottish Governments can help overcome infrastructure challenges and attract over £4.1 billion in private investment. A new Strategic Sites Task Force will be established to drive forward delivery of these transformational projects.

Download the Strategic Sites Programme [PDF, 3.11 MB] to learn more about these exciting developments that will shape the future of our region.