Attracting Place Investment

The opportunity is real, if you position projects right

There is more investment available for Scottish towns and communities than many people realise. The Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB), established in 2020, exists precisely to direct long-term, patient capital into projects that deliver social and environmental impact alongside financial returns. One of the Bank’s core missions is to transform communities, making them places where everyone thrives – and town centres sit squarely within that ambition.

The Bank has partnered with Scotland’s Towns Partnership to raise awareness of investment opportunities and encourage new and innovative funding for major regeneration projects in Scotland’s towns. Beyond SNIB, there is a wider ecosystem of public, private, and third sector funders with an appetite to support place-based projects – from Community Wealth Building initiatives to affordable housing, sustainable transport, and high street regeneration.

So why aren’t more community groups and town stakeholders accessing this investment – private or public? Often, it comes down to investment readiness; not the quality of the idea, but how well the proposition is presented.

What “investment ready” actually means

Funders and investors of all kinds – public or private, grant-giving or loan-making – are looking for the same things when they assess a proposition. Articulating these clearly is what separates projects that attract funding from those that don’t:

A clear ask: What do you actually need, from whom, and on what terms? Many community propositions stall not because the idea is weak, but because the ask is vague. “We need funding to regenerate our town centre” is not a fundable proposition. “We are seeking a £500,000 loan over ten years to convert a vacant listed building into a mixed-use community hub, with rental income from three commercial units servicing the debt” is. The more specific the ask, the easier it is for an investor to say yes.

Evidence of demand: Investors respond to demonstrated need, not assumed need. Footfall data, community surveys, waiting lists, occupancy rates, or existing revenue streams all help make the case that what you are proposing is wanted and will be used. If you are at an early stage, even informal evidence (a packed public meeting, a petition, letters of support from local businesses) shows that the community is behind the project.

Governance and management capacity: This is consistently flagged as one of the biggest risk factors for investors, and one that can be underestimated. Who is accountable for the project? How are decisions made? What happens if the lead person leaves? A clear governance structure, whether that is a Development Trust, a Community Benefit Society, a registered charity, or another appropriate model, signals to funders that the project has the institutional backbone to deliver and manage investment responsibly. There is a strong support ecosystem in Scotland to help communities get this right, including Development Trusts Association Scotland, Community Enterprise, and the community ownership support offered through the Scottish Land Fund.

A pathway to sustainability

Very few funders want to support something that will need continued investment in the short term. Investors – including mission-led ones like SNIB – want to see a credible model for how a project covers its costs over time, or ideally generates a return. This does not always mean profit in a conventional sense, but it does mean showing that there is a plan. Increasingly, the norm for community assets is blended finance: a combination of grant, loan, equity investment, and earned income that together make a project viable. Understanding and articulating this mix is key.

Where Community Wealth Building fits in

Framing your project within Scotland’s Community Wealth Building agenda can open additional support lines and make it more legible to public funders. CWB focuses on five interconnected pillars – spending, workforce, land and property, inclusive ownership, and finance – and projects that can demonstrate contribution across more than one of these are well-positioned. A town centre development that creates local jobs, brings a vacant property back into community use, and generates income that stays in the local area fits nicely within CWB principles, and making this clear will help you in your investment journey.

Working backwards from the outcome

The most useful thing a community group or local authority can do before approaching any funder is to work backwards from the proposition. Start with the outcome: what does success look like in ten years? And then map what needs to be in place to get there: the governance, the evidence, the financial model, the ask. If any of those four things is missing or unclear, address it before seeking investment.

The Scottish National Investment Bank typically invests from £1 million upward, in businesses and projects that deliver both commercial returns and positive social or environmental impact, focusing on areas where private finance falls short. For smaller community projects, there are other entry points too – the Scottish Land Fund, the Place Based Investment Programme, and community development finance institutions – but the same principles of investment readiness apply regardless of the funding source or scale.

Taking the next step

Scotland’s Towns Partnership and its partners can help connect town stakeholders with the right support and investment pathways. If you are working on a proposition for your town centre and want to understand what investment might be available, the starting point is getting your idea investment-ready.