Scottish growth is subdued but stable, with real earnings now rising and inflation easing, which gives investors a cautiously constructive backdrop for the second half of 2026.

Growth and sectors

Scotland’s GDP grew 0.1% in the three months to April 2026, flat on the previous quarter and below the UK’s 0.7% pace, leaving output 0.9% higher than a year earlier. Services and construction are doing the work: services output rose 0.1%, with wholesale, retail and motor trades up 1.6% and information and communication up 2.1%, while construction grew 1.5% over the quarter, its fastest pace since mid‑2023. Production contracted 0.2% and manufacturing fell 1%, extending a weaker run for industry.

Inflation and policy

Headline inflation has continued to ease. UK CPI was 2.8% in May, down from 3.3% in March after April’s 7% cut in Ofgem’s energy price cap, though the cap rose again by 13% at the start of July. The Bank of England left Bank Rate at 3.75% in June and now expects inflation to sit around 3% in the third quarter and a little over 3.25% in the fourth, lower than its April forecast but still above target. For investors, that points to a slower, more data‑dependent path to any future rate cuts rather than a rapid loosening.

Labour market and earnings

The labour market has cooled without breaking. Scotland’s unemployment rate rose to 4.3% in the three months to April, still below the UK’s 4.9%, while the employment rate slipped to 74.3% and economic inactivity edged up to 22.2%. PAYE data show payrolled employee numbers down 0.3% over the year to May, at their second‑lowest level since early 2023. Against that, nominal median monthly PAYE pay rose 5.3% to £2,669, with real earnings up 2.4% — more than double the average real pay growth seen over the previous six months. That mix of modest growth, softer hiring and firmer real incomes is the operating environment investors will be planning against.

The new unit spans 5,012 sq ft—more than double the size of its previous 2,249 sq ft store—offering an expanded range of footwear, trainers and accessories. Shoppers can access brands including adidas, ASICS, BIRKENSTOCK and UGG, alongside new-season collections.

Located near neighbouring brands Deichmann, BPerfect and River Island, the store showcases OFFICE’s latest retail concept and enhanced in-store experience.

Image credit – OFFICE

The launch will be marked with an in-store DJ event on Saturday, featuring music from across the decades.

Phil Goodman, centre director at Glasgow Fort, said: “OFFICE choosing Glasgow Fort for its new flagship store is a real show of confidence in the centre and everything it has to offer.

“We know our visitors take shopping for footwear seriously, so we’re excited to be bringing them a bigger and better OFFICE experience, with more of the brands and styles they love. We can’t wait to welcome customers into the store to see what’s new and find their next favourite pair of shoes.”

Dundee-based Radix has surpassed £9 million in turnover after recording 33% year-on-year growth, with the business now forecasting revenue of £12 million this year and £20 million within the next three years. The sustainable engineering specialist, founded in 2019 by Callum Milne, makes concrete-free screw pile and ground screw foundation systems used across renewable energy, transport and infrastructure, modular construction, leisure, tourism and residential development.

The company positions its systems as a lower-carbon alternative to traditional civil engineering, saying its concrete-free foundations cut embodied CO₂ equivalent by more than 60% against conventional methods, while allowing faster installation with no excavation or spoil removal. That combination of a sustainability claim and a broad spread of end markets helps explain why the revenue line has moved as quickly as it has.

Radix said its growth is being driven by sustained demand from renewable energy, infrastructure and development work. The breadth of that demand matters for how the company is read: rather than depending on a single sector, its order base spans several areas of construction and energy activity at once.

The forecasts set a clear test for the year ahead. A move from £9 million to a targeted £12 million this year, and £20 million within three, would take Radix well beyond the scale of a typical regional specialist and into genuine scale-up territory for a Dundee manufacturer. Whether the company hits those numbers is the thing to watch.

New UK powers to nationalise steel firms arrive just as Scotland’s only plate mill fights to stay in production, raising a bigger question: does steel still have a role in Scotland’s economy — and can these powers help secure it?

A single mill carrying a national story

Scotland’s steel industry once employed thousands across Lanarkshire, but today it rests almost entirely on one asset: the Dalzell plate mill in Motherwell, currently the only plate mill in the UK. Its recent history has been turbulent. Owned by Sanjeev Gupta’s GFG Alliance through Liberty Steel, the mill suspended offers in mid-2024 and fell idle, with staff placed on furlough.

Restart under consideration — then a restart

In a September 2025 statement to the Scottish Parliament, Public Finance Minister Ivan McKee said GFG Alliance had “a credible plan for restarting operations at Dalzell in the coming weeks,” framing a possible return to production as under active consideration. That consideration became reality: Liberty Steel confirmed in late December 2025 that Dalzell had restarted to fulfil a UK government order, using steel slab sourced from British Steel. The plant had also secured a contract with Spanish state-owned shipbuilder Navantia to supply 34,000 tonnes of steel plate for Royal Navy Fleet Solid Support ships being built in Belfast.

A struggle for survival

The restart has proved fragile rather than decisive. A January 2026 report found the plant had been unable to reach substantial production because cash-flow difficulties at GFG Alliance left it unable to buy the steel slabs it needed, with an early trial run in November 2025 processing only around 1,000 tonnes — roughly three days of output. The financial strain is part of a wider crisis across Gupta’s businesses: his Speciality Steel UK operation in South Yorkshire was ruled “hopelessly insolvent” and placed into compulsory liquidation in August 2025, though Liberty stated its other UK sites, including Dalzell, remained unaffected. In late January 2026, the UK Ministry of Defence said the raw-material shortage at Dalzell posed a “low” risk to the warship programme.

Does the new legislation offer fresh hope?

The Steel Industry (Nationalisation) Bill gives the Secretary of State powers to transfer the shares or property of a steel undertaking into public ownership where a public interest test is met, and crucially it applies across the whole UK and to steel companies generally — not only to British Steel. It also includes provisions for independently assessed compensation where its powers are used.

This is highly relevant for Dalzell since the plant’s core problems would seem to be ownership and cash, not demand. It holds government and naval orders it has struggled to fulfil under GFG’s financial strain. Prominent Scottish metals figure Sir David Murray has urged the UK government to intervene and compel Liberty to give up control of the mill, echoing the kind of action the new powers are designed to enable. GMB (the General, Municipal, Boilermakers and Allied Trade Union) has welcomed the legislation as a “decisive intervention” and argued the next test is real orders, including a requirement for public infrastructure projects to buy British steel, alongside worker representation in any nationalised company.

Does steel still matter to Scotland?

Scotland is no longer a mass producer of steel, yet the sector still connects to shipbuilding, defence, renewables and heavy engineering, all of which need reliable domestic supply. The wider backdrop is mixed: Scottish Government data shows the economy grew 1.4% in 2025 with manufacturing output down 4.0% overall, though manufacturing of metals and metal products returned to growth in the final quarter of the year.

The future remains uncertain, and hinges on whether public policy can stabilise a single strategically important plant. The nationalisation powers do not automatically save Dalzell, but for the first time they give the government a clear legal route to step in if GFG’s ownership fails — which is the key risk hanging over the mill today.

Scotland’s natural capital is now firmly part of the country’s net zero investment thesis, but turning peatlands and coastal habitats into bankable projects will depend on whether finance, law and policy can move in step.

The Scottish Government defines natural capital as the stock of natural assets, from soil and water to plants and wildlife, that delivers ongoing benefits to people and the economy, with recent analysis suggesting these assets underpin at least £40 billion of output and around 14% of Scottish GDP. That contribution supports an estimated 260,000 jobs, putting peatlands, woodlands and coastal environments on the radar of investors looking at Scotland’s long-term growth and transition story.

Speaking to Scottish Business News, Womble Bond Dickinson banking partner Chris McLauchlan argues that natural capital should be treated as part of Scotland’s commercial transition architecture rather than as a purely environmental concern, with fundable conditions for land, energy, infrastructure and restoration projects becoming critical in the next phase of decarbonisation. For lenders and investors, his case is that financing decarbonisation is about building confidence across the ecosystem so capital can move with clearer expectations, creating gains in construction, rural diversification, professional services and wider wealth creation alongside emissions cuts.

Chris McLauchlan – Womble Bond Dickinson banking partner

Nature-based finance is one of the clearest tests of this thesis, because Scottish assets capable of restoration at scale can support projects that blend biodiversity recovery, carbon sequestration and, in some cases, renewable generation or other commercial uses. These are not conventional real estate or infrastructure deals: returns may depend on carbon credits, land-use change and habitat restoration, often across mixed-use estates, which demands more tailored structures and sharper visibility on rights, revenue and risk.

Recent conservation-led transactions show how that structure can work when the legal and financing architecture is built around environmental outcomes. Womble Bond Dickinson’s advice to Triodos Bank UK on a £20.55 million lending facility for Oxygen Conservation, used to acquire two large Scottish estates from Buccleuch, is believed to be among the UK’s largest conservation-focused commercial debt packages, backing rewilding, woodland creation, peatland restoration and regenerative agriculture over a 25-year horizon.

Policy continuity and delivery remain central to investor confidence, because stakeholders can handle complexity more easily than uncertainty, and Scotland’s net zero economy will rely on stable programmes, credible project pipelines and durable market signals. Initiatives such as Transition Finance Scotland, developed with the Green Finance Institute and aiming to mobilise up to £40 billion a year of private capital into priority net zero sectors, underline the scale of ambition but also highlight that strong legal, financial and regulatory frameworks are needed to bridge the gap between environmental value and investable opportunity.

That is where natural capital becomes more than an underused part of Scotland’s economic base, because aligning high‑integrity assets with robust investment structures and policy clarity could allow Scotland not just to participate in net zero, but to help shape the commercial models that make the transition viable at scale.

Over the past few weeks, three substantial funding rounds – BR‑DGE’s £10 million, Aveni’s £12 million and VASO Global’s £5 million‑plus – have given Scotland’s scaleup economy a glimpse of what happens when specialist capital meets deep‑tech ambition. For founders and investors watching from the sidelines, the pattern matters more than any single headline.

BR‑DGE, founded in Edinburgh, runs a payment orchestration platform for enterprise merchants in gaming, transport and online retail. In late June, it announced that it had “raised £10m in a new funding round, with Bettor Capital joining as a growth investor alongside our existing backers,” with the capital earmarked to “accelerate our geographic expansion and further enhance our platform, to continue giving enterprise merchants real, measurable performance gains on every transaction.” The company reports a 15‑fold increase in platform volumes in under two years and expects to be processing more than 100 million transactions per month by year‑end.

On the AI side of financial services, Aveni’s June raise underlines how fast Scottish fintech is moving into regulatory‑grade infrastructure. The Edinburgh spinout confirmed: “We’ve raised £12 million, led by PXN Investments, with Puma Growth Partners, Lloyds Banking Group, Nationwide Building Society and Scottish Enterprise all backing us again. It goes towards one problem: how a firm proves an AI agent talking to a customer is behaving the way the regulator expects. Agent Assure answers that.” The round will accelerate development of Aveni’s Unified Assurance Platform and its Agent Assure and Agent Approve tools, built to track the conduct risk of both human and AI agents in financial services.

At the other end of the economy, Dumfries‑based VASO Global is turning waste glass into structural composite panels for modular homes and buildings. Its recent funding package – more than £5 million – combines a £1.4 million seed investment from PXN Ventures Scotland with support from Scottish Enterprise, Innovate UK Loans, South of Scotland Enterprise and ECO Group. The money will support manufacturing at a new 60,000 sq ft facility in Dumfries and is expected to create up to 70 jobs over the next five years.

PXN’s Ben Davies framed the impact succinctly: “VASO Global is a Dumfries-based construction innovator turning waste glass into high-performance structural composite panels. Their technology enables rapid, low-carbon, modular homes and buildings to be built at a fraction of the time and cost of traditional methods… The investment will support the development of VASO’s new 60,000 sq ft manufacturing facility in Dumfries, creating up to 70 jobs over the next five years and strengthening the circular economy across the South of Scotland.”

Taken together, these deals show specialist investors backing Scottish companies that do more than build apps or point solutions. BR‑DGE sits in enterprise payments infrastructure, Aveni in AI assurance for regulated financial services and VASO Global in industrialised construction and advanced materials. Each is offering a platform or system that other businesses depend on – payments routing, AI governance, building components – and each is targeting markets well beyond Scotland.

They also show how often Scotland’s public agencies now sit alongside private capital in growth‑stage rounds. Scottish Enterprise appears across Aveni and VASO Global; Innovate UK’s loan is explicitly designed to take VASO to “technical and commercial maturity”; and South of Scotland Enterprise provided early funding to move the recycled‑glass panel system into commercial use. For founders, that co‑investment pattern matters: it signals that the public sector is willing to share risk in building exportable, infrastructure‑level businesses, not just early pilots.

Another notable thread is that these are not London‑centric deals. PXN Group positions itself as a venture firm operating outside London and the South East, focusing on high‑growth companies across the rest of the UK. Bettor Capital’s first Scottish deal brings a US specialist investor into Edinburgh’s payments ecosystem. For years, founders have complained that serious growth capital rarely looks north of the M25; recent activity suggests some of that capital is now making the trip.

None of this means Scotland’s scaleup funding challenges are solved. There is still a gap between companies that can raise eight‑figure rounds and those that stall in the low seven figures. But BR‑DGE, Aveni and VASO Global offer concrete examples that Scotland can produce deep‑tech infrastructure plays with international relevance and attract specialist investors willing to back them.

If similar deals continue to emerge across sectors – in energy tech, robotics, climate analytics, health and beyond – Scotland’s ambition to be more than a branch‑office economy will look less like rhetoric and more like a pattern. For now, these three rounds are a useful marker of how far the ecosystem has already moved.

Critics of Scotland’s emerging data centre policy have every reason to demand tougher questions about hyperscale developments, energy demand and planning pressure. But if the current debate ends in a blanket halt on new projects, the Scottish Government risks making a decision that looks cautious in the short term and deeply damaging in the long term. Business critics will see an uncomfortable pattern in that approach. To them, a decision to thwart economic growth by effectively shooting opportunity in the foot will feel reminiscent of the Scottish Government’s wider posture on oil and gas development, where political instinct has incurred significant economic penalty.

The case for closer scrutiny is reasonable from a planning perspective. But in the world of business opportunity delay kills deals, and decisions not to optimise the use of economic resources thwart growth. Campaigners and some politicians argue that the cumulative impact of large-scale projects on electricity demand, land use and climate targets has not been properly tested, and they want a pause until guidance catches up. Concerns about “overdevelopment”, the intrusion of large sites and the strain on local infrastructure are not imaginary; several proposed facilities would be among the largest consumers of electricity in the country.

That is a legitimate policy concern. But the jump from “we need clearer national rules” to “stop the market” is where the Scottish Government risks getting this badly wrong. There is a material difference between tightening planning guidance and sending a signal that the country is closed — even temporarily — to an entire category of digital infrastructure that underpins modern growth.

Data centres are not a side issue in the AI economy. They are the physical layer that supports cloud services, model training, inference, financial systems, public services, health research and the wider digital economy. If Scotland wants to be taken seriously as a destination for AI, digital infrastructure cannot be treated as an optional extra that can be paused whenever politics becomes uncomfortable.

Robert Eadie, data centre director at Rimkus, put the risk plainly: “A moratorium on hyperscale data centres would send a concerning signal to the market that Scotland is stepping back from supporting the infrastructure that underpins the modern economy. Investors looking to deploy capital into digital infrastructure have choices, and if projects cannot proceed here, they will simply move elsewhere in the UK or Europe.”

That is the central point ministers need to confront. Opportunity rarely disappears; it relocates. Capital, supply-chain work, engineering jobs, construction contracts, operational expertise and future AI ecosystems do not wait politely for a government to make up its mind. If the Scottish Government allows Scotland to become known as the place that pauses and hesitates, while other regions are seen as the places that host and build, the long-term consequences will extend far beyond any one planning application.

Sandy Begbie, chief executive of Scottish Financial Enterprise, has made the same case from a national competitiveness perspective, arguing that these are decisions “of national importance for economic growth, resilience and security”. His warning is straightforward: data centres are now part of critical national infrastructure, not a discretionary add-on. Governments that want to lead in AI have to decide whether they are prepared to host the infrastructure that makes leadership possible.

Scotland already has advantages that many competitors would like to have: renewable energy potential, engineering capability, a strong universities base and growing AI ambitions set out in the Scottish Government’s own strategy. The artificial intelligence strategy for 2026–2031 explicitly talks about building world-class infrastructure and using data centres as part of a responsible growth model. To step back now, just as the race for compute, cloud capacity and AI deployment is accelerating, would send a message far beyond any one planning dispute.

The smarter route is not a blanket stop. It is tougher national guidance, better grid planning, clearer environmental standards and a more honest framework for deciding which projects create long-term value and which do not. It is ministers taking strategic responsibility for nationally significant infrastructure, rather than leaving decisions entirely to local processes that were never designed for hyperscale AI facilities.

A halt may feel like control. In practice, it could become a decision by the Scottish Government to watch investment, capability and strategic relevance flow elsewhere. For a country that says it wants to compete in AI, that would be a serious mistake.

Fotheringham Homes has been recognised at the 19th Scottish Home Awards, taking home two awards while also receiving a Highly Commended accolade in recognition of its homes and developments across the North East of Scotland.

The Gourdon-based housebuilder was named Housebuilder of the Year (Up to 100 Units) and House of the Year (Up to £500,000) for The Mulberry at Linton Mews, Gourdon. The Mulberry was also recognised with a Highly Commended award in the Show Home of the Year category, standing out amongst a strong field of more than 16 finalists across Scotland.

The Scottish Home Awards, sponsored by Ross & Liddell, celebrates excellence across Scotland’s housing sector, recognising the country’s leading developers, developments and homes.

For Fotheringham Homes, a family-run business established in the North East of Scotland, the awards recognise the company’s continued commitment to quality, customer service and thoughtfully designed homes.

The Housebuilder of the Year award recognises developers who consistently deliver quality, craftsmanship and customer satisfaction across their developments. Commenting on Fotheringham Homes the Judges said: “Building exceptional homes is one thing. Consistently delivering quality, craftsmanship and customer satisfaction across every development is what sets the very best apart.”

The Mulberry at Linton Mews was recognised as House of the Year (Up to £500,000), with judges noting: “Great homes combine thoughtful design, quality craftsmanship and a place where people can truly put down roots.”

The Mulberry has played a central role in the success of Linton Mews, helping prospective buyers experience the quality, layout and level of customisation available within a Fotheringham home. Since opening, the showhome has welcomed hundreds of visitors and supported sales across both Linton Mews and future developments. Following its award success, the showhome is now set to be released for sale.

The awards follow a successful period for the business, which has seen strong demand at Linton Mews in Gourdon, a 49 home development that has brought a mix of bungalows and family homes to the coastal village.

Managing Director Michael Fotheringham said:

“We are absolutely delighted. To be recognised at a national level alongside some of Scotland’s largest housebuilders is a real achievement for a business of our size.

“These awards reflect the hard work of our team, the trades and suppliers we work alongside, and the trust our customers place in us. We are proud to be building homes in the communities we know best and it is incredibly rewarding to see that recognised.”

Looking ahead, Fotheringham Homes continues to invest in the future of the North East housing market. Construction is now underway at Brownmuir, Fordoun, a boutique development of three family homes, while plans are progressing for Hallgreen Mains, Inverbervie, a proposed development of up to 96 homes. Following two positive public consultation events, a planning application is expected to be submitted in July.

The business is also progressing plans for a further development in Kirriemuir, comprising approximately 55 homes, reflecting continued confidence in the demand for high quality housing across the region.

The latest success builds on previous recognition at the Scottish Home Awards and reinforces Fotheringham Homes’ reputation for delivering homes that combine quality, craftsmanship, thoughtful design and a highly personal approach to customer service.

Fife-based home improvements firm CR Smith has created 150 new roles as it scales up to deliver major social housing projects for councils and housing associations across Scotland.

The expansion cements the company’s move into public sector work and underlines its ambition to be a long-term partner in modernising Scotland’s social housing stock.

Best known for supplying high-quality windows and doors to private homeowners, CR Smith has spent the past four years broadening its focus to include social landlords and local authorities. Building on its established trade and commercial operations, the firm has taken what it describes as a strategic and carefully phased approach to entering the social housing market.

To support rising demand, the company has significantly scaled up its capabilities, adding 150 roles across the business. This investment is designed to strengthen operational capacity and ensure CR Smith can meet what it calls the complex and evolving demands of social housing delivery at scale.

CR Smith is now delivering replacement window programmes for a growing roster of public sector clients including Fife Council, the City of Edinburgh Council, East Lothian Council, West Lothian Council and Dundee City Council. The business has also built partnerships with more than a dozen housing associations as it deepens its presence in the social housing sector.

Earlier this year, the company sponsored the CIH Scotland Housing Festival at the SEC to showcase the role of advanced window design, precision manufacturing and efficient on-site delivery in raising standards. CR Smith says continued investment in people, processes and innovation will underpin its role as a key delivery partner in Scotland’s drive to improve and modernise social housing stock.

The firm has been a prominent name in Scottish homes for more than 50 years, with a reputation built on product quality, skilled installation teams and consistently high service standards. CR Smith argues that this track record in the private sector gives it a strong platform as it broadens further into social housing.

CR Smith maintains that what truly differentiates the business is its focus on people and service, describing the customer experience as central to everything it does. The company says this service-led mindset has guided its approach to all markets and all householders over the past five decades.

The business believes that everyone from private homeowners to social tenants, and from housing associations to housebuilders, deserves clarity, care and respect in how projects are delivered. It says providing that level of service consistently is fundamental to the brand and a key part of its proposition to social landlords.

CR Smith highlights its collaborative approach as a way to support long-term value for housing associations and local authorities. This includes providing greater certainty in planning and budgeting so social landlords can manage investment programmes with confidence.

The company says its design and manufacturing expertise ensures quality, performance and durability in window installations, which can in turn help reduce ongoing maintenance costs. By aiming to exceed expectations and push up standards, CR Smith positions its offer as both a quality and whole-life cost play for social landlords.

CR Smith also emphasises the wider community benefits that can flow from its partnerships with local authorities and housing associations. It points to opportunities to support local employment, skills development and community investment, aligning its work with landlords’ shared social value objectives.

Working side by side with public sector clients, the firm argues that this model can bring certainty, consistency and innovation, while supporting the sharing of best practice. CR Smith believes this approach will support improved outcomes for tenants and communities and underpin its position as a long-term partner to the public sector, matching its decades-long role in the private market.

Gerard Eadie CBE, Chairman of CR Smith, said: “It has been a carefully considered journey to ensure that we bring the same exceptional standards we are well known for in the private sector to the social housing sector.

“We have invested heavily to ensure that we can deliver the quality, scale and reliability Councils and Housing Associations require. It is important to us to exceed expectations, and we do this by focusing on the details – doing things right – while upholding the values of customer service that have defined our brand for more than 50 years.”

Danny McArthur, Director of Commercial at CR Smith, said: “Our focus has been to bring the full strength of CR Smith into social housing – our people, our products and our service culture. Central to that is the customer experience, ensuring every householder receives professional care and respect.

“Equally important are the working relationships we build with our clients. Our growing client list shows the demand for a supplier committed to both.”

Livingston Designer Outlet has secured a major upsizing and relocation for global sportswear brand Nike, in a move that will nearly double the brand’s footprint at the West Lothian destination and further entrench its position as Scotland’s leading outlet centre. The expanded Nike factory store is scheduled to open in late September 2026 and will sit within a newly configured sportswear cluster that also features Adidas, Puma and Under Armour.

Global Mutual, which has managed Livingston Designer Outlet since 2023, is positioning the Nike deal as a milestone in its asset management strategy for the 80‑store scheme. The upsizing follows a period of strong trading in a challenging retail market, with the outlet reporting sales growth of 16% year‑on‑year and an 18% increase in footfall, supported by sportswear category sales up 8% over the same period.

Nicky Lovell, Head of Outlets and Retail Business and Development at Global Mutual, said the agreement reflects both retailer confidence and the impact of active asset management at the scheme. “The upsizing and relocation of Nike is a clear example of our proactive asset management at Livingston Designer Outlet. Over the past 12 months, we have been investing in the scheme to optimise the retail offer and strengthen our brand mix through unit reconfiguration. This latest commitment from Nike reflects both the strength of the destination and the confidence in our long-term strategy. By continuing to invest in the asset and work closely with our brand partners, we are creating a more compelling, high-performing environment for both retailers and customers.”

The enlarged store will deliver an enhanced retail environment, with a broader range of Nike apparel, footwear and accessories across lifestyle and performance categories than the current unit. The relocation is designed to integrate Nike more closely into Livingston Designer Outlet’s sports and performance offer, bringing leading brands together in a single zone to increase dwell time and cross‑shop potential.

The deal sits within a wider programme of leasing and investment activity at the outlet, as Global Mutual continues to reshape the tenant mix around categories that are driving growth. Recent commitments include refits from Castore and Next, and new lettings to indoor adventure operator Flip Out, food brand Tikka Nation and footwear retailer Hamilton & Brown, further broadening the destination’s retail and leisure proposition.

Livingston Designer Outlet has been using strategic leasing to deepen its appeal to value‑conscious consumers seeking premium brands at outlet prices, with recent expansions by Calvin Klein, The North Face, Le Creuset and Lacoste among others. Alongside fashion labels such as Fred Perry, Columbia, Tommy Hilfiger and high‑street names including M&S and Next, the near‑doubling of Nike’s store reinforces the outlet’s pitch as a market‑leading Scottish destination for both lifestyle and performance brands