Enterprise Areas
We established four Enterprise Areas to help create supportive business environments for our growing industries – life sciences, manufacturing, and low carbon/renewables (North and East) – at 16 strategic sites across Scotland. See Enterprise Area maps.
By offering incentives and other support for businesses locating at these sites, we hope to create jobs, attract investment and promote growth. We extended designation of Scotland’s Enterprise Areas to 2026.
The specific Non-Domestic Rates (NDR) relief associated with Scottish Enterprise Areas officially expired and came to an end on 31 March 2026.
The designation of the areas and their phased-out tax incentives (see below) were formally phased out as part of the Scottish Budget and concluded at the end of the 2025/2026 financial year.
Incentives offered
Each Enterprise Area site offered a range of incentives tailored to fit the individual characteristics of that site, in addition to either:
- business rates discounts as set by the The Non-Domestic Rates (Enterprise Areas) (Scotland) Regulations 2016 enabling businesses to claim up to 200,000 euros of business rates relief over a three year fiscal period (not available at Nigg, Dundee Port or Dundee Claverhouse)
or
- full expensing capital allowances enabling businesses to claim a 100% first-year allowance for main rate expenditure – known as full expensing; and a 50% first-year allowance for special rate expenditure, on qualifying expenditure incurred on or after 1 April 2023 but before 1 April 2026 (note: this is not exclusive to Enterprise Areas)
Additional incentives included:
- a streamlined planning process
- high-speed broadband
- international promotion and marketing provided by Scottish Development International (SDI)
- skills and training support provided by Skills Development Scotland