Jobs coming to woodland site

GTC is setting up a Scottish base in the middle unit at Western Campus.

There were furious protests several years ago when huge numbers of trees were chopped down to make way for the Western Campus buildings on the edge of Strathclyde Business Park.

Viewpark Conservation Group said bulldozers shouldn’t have been allowed to clear areas of much-loved Viewpark Glen.

The work was funded by North Lanarkshire Council, its arm’s length regeneration company Fusion Assets and Glasgow construction firm CBC.

Although the council denied development was taking place in the glen itself, then council leader Jim McCabe later expressed concern at how far the business park had expanded.

With the three industrial units now completed, utility infrastructure and networks provider GTC has announced it is taking the bulk of space within one of them as its first Scottish base.

It has 14 employees, but expects that to rise to 50 by the end of 2017. It will be a mix of office and field jobs, all based in Bellshill.

Lesley Campbell, commercial director of GTC Scotland, said: “From this excellent location we are ideally placed to deliver gas, electricity, fibre and water networks to new build developments throughout Scotland.”

Craig Semple, of commercial property advisor GVA, said interest in the “state-of-the-art development in a prime location” has been high.