Edinburgh Development and Investment (EDI)

Submitted by scotsman on Wed, 27 Feb '08 12.48pm

The EDI Group Ltd is a private limited company which was established in 1988 by the City of Edinburgh Council to carry out the development of Edinburgh Park, described as one of the best business parks in Europe by the British Council of Offices.

EDI works alone and in partnership with both the public and private sectors on specific economic development projects. EDI brings the relative autonomy, but discipline, of a company approach, combined with private sector expertise, into the public sector which can help raise investor confidence and facilitate effective joint working with other parts of the private sector. For example, EDI has formed a Joint Venture Company ( PARC) with the City of Edinburgh Council to deliver the long-term strategic regeneration of Craigmillar. The company is responsible for the creation of 2,200 new homes, one new secondary and three new primary schools, a new town centre with 300,000 square feet of retail, leisure and office space, a new library and community and lifelong learning facilities.

PARC is also responsible for ensuring delivery of appropriate infrastructure for the area, the integration of existing public and local authority provision and the creation of new landscaping, major public parks and civic spaces over a 15-year programme, together with raising the private funding (circa £160m) to carry it out and recycling a large part of the profit into the social infrastructure for Craigmillar.