Creative Clyde baseline report

Creative Clyde is a partnership between public organisations and the private sector to establish Glasgow and Scotland as an internationally recognised location for creative industries. It is a creative industries and digital media location, development project and industry grouping. The core Creative Clyde location extends to both sides of the Clyde at Pacific Quay and includes the SECC, Clyde Auditorium, Scottish Hydro Arena and Riverside Museum. The wider Creative Clyde community includes creative businesses and clusters located in the city centre and throughout Glasgow. The project aims to build on Glasgow’s growing status as a hub for the creative industries, delivering new jobs and economic growth for the city. The main objective of the study was to update economic impact information for the core Creative Clyde location and the wider Creative Clyde project and to establish a monitoring and evaluation framework.

The methodology consisted of an online survey of companies indentified by Scottish Enterprise (SE) and Roger Tym and Partners. A total of 286 companies were contacted, of which 63 companies responded and completed the survey while a further 21 companies responded but declined to take part in the survey. Information on job and company numbers was also assessed using online databases, including the Annual Business Inquiry (ABI), Focus Net and a database provided by SE.

The majority of companies that responded to the survey (76%) were creative businesses and just under half (44%) were based in the core Creative Clyde location with the rest elsewhere in Glasgow. The majority (69%) of creative businesses that responded to the survey were outside the core Creative Clyde location. In terms of employment, creative businesses responding to the survey employed 1,880 people. Their employment levels have increased marginally (5%) over the last three years but more than doubled in the last five years (136%). When information on SE account managed companies is added, there are 2,604 employees in creative businesses in Glasgow. Based on the survey and SE account managed company information, annual turnover in creative businesses in Glasgow is estimated to be over £140 million. In the core Creative Clyde area there are around 2,300 jobs in some 40 companies in creative industries, representing around 20% of the total jobs in this location. The number of jobs has increased three-fold since 2006. In total, there are around 16,000 jobs in creative industries across Glasgow, some 4% of all jobs in the city.

Some suggestions were made for ongoing monitoring of the information extracted through the survey process, which included: a traditional option of updating the data annually through repeating the current survey, with annual checks to ensure the survey population is kept up to date, and repeating the work using ABI and Focus Net data on an annual basis; and a digital option where a digital system could be established to send each respondent last year’s information to update, possibly through the use of social networks.