Town Centre Living: Building Momentum Through Collaboration
In August, I had the pleasure of hosting local authorities, developers, investors and community partners at Scotland’s Town Centre Living Summit – a space to share experiences, test ideas and shape a more joined-up approach to revitalising our town centres and creating liveable, accessible places? delivering homes and regeneration in the heart of our towns.
Voices from across the public, private and third sectors explored how shared ambition and collective action can accelerate town centre housing and regeneration in Scotland.
For me, this work represents more than a single event. It’s part of a growing national effort to turn strategy into delivery, helping towns thrive as places to live, work and invest.
Reflecting on Progress and partnership?
The August summit built on two years of cross-sector collaboration, shaped by early roadshows, Short Life Working Group (SLWG) findings and focused discussions with local authorities and SME developers earlier this year.
Since those early conversations, I’ve seen real progress.
Local authorities are identifying investment-ready sites, developers are entering early-stage partnerships and shared frameworks are now in place to measure success through the Five Conditions of Success.
Councils are mapping out opportunities for housing-led regeneration, while developers and local authorities are engaging earlier to build mutual understanding and shared ambition – including early-stage dialogue with Keepmoat in Kilmarnock.
This progress has been supported by close collaboration with the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT), Architecture and Design Scotland (A&DS) and the Scottish Land Commission (SLC), with whom we co-developed the Five Conditions of Success: Leadership & Collaboration; Holistic Planning & Placemaking; Funding & Resources; Local Engagement & Partnership; and Risk Mitigation.
The summit signalled a turning point, moving from conversation to collaboration and from vision to action. What stood out most to me was the shared determination to make things happen. Across Scotland, there’s a renewed energy and openness between local authorities, developers and communities. That willingness to work together – to share risks, ideas and learning – is what will ultimately turn ambition into delivery.
Key themes and learnings
The summit was also a chance to test the Five Conditions of Success against real-world experience and the discussions reaffirmed how essential they are to turning ambition into action.
Leadership & Collaboration
Effective leadership – at both local and national levels – continues to drive progress. Hearing how cross-departmental working within councils, alongside a culture of openness and partnership, is translating into practical outcomes and lasting collaboration with the private sector was particularly encouraging.
Holistic Planning & Placemaking
Town Centre Living is about more than housing. I heard many partners framing it as a whole-place approach, connecting homes to green spaces, active travel routes, cultural venues and local enterprise. This integrated vision is vital for creating places where people genuinely want to live and stay.
Funding & Resources
A key takeaway for me was the need for a commercially focused mindset, using limited public sector funding strategically to unlock larger pools of private investment. The Scottish National Investment Bank (SNIB) and others are already helping partners explore how alternative funding mechanisms and joint ventures can de-risk projects and accelerate delivery.
Local Engagement & Partnership
Community partnership remains at the heart of successful town centre regeneration. I saw first hand how valuable early engagement can really make an impact, involving communities and investors from the outset to co-design viable, people-centred places.
Risk Mitigation
Finally, participants highlighted the importance of sharing risk through joint ventures, flexible masterplans and adaptable delivery models that respond to market conditions while keeping long-term goals in view. Building investor confidence through transparent partnership is essential to success.
Building a momentum – what happens next
As we move forward, this work is entering a new, delivery-focused phase.
A follow-up meeting in January 2026 will bring together local authorities, developers and partners to review progress, share practical outcomes and agree next steps.
Work is already underway to identify and advance pilot sites and develop the Pan-Local Authority Town Centre Living model – a coordinated approach supporting delivery at scale through public-private collaboration. Engagement with investors, including SNIB and key developers, will continue, informed by the Five Conditions of Success and the learning shared in August.
Delivering thriving town centres depends on every sector playing a role, from housing and infrastructure to enterprise, transport and culture. That’s why I’m continuing to build relationships across these interdependent sectors, inviting partners to bring their expertise, energy and ideas to the table.
This process is laying the foundations for a more joined-up, investment-ready model of town centre regeneration. A model that supports Scotland’s wider ambitions around sustainability, local resilience and the green economy.
There’s now a clear sense of momentum behind this work. At Scotland’s Towns Partnership, our focus is on keeping that energy going, connecting people, ideas and investment to drive delivery on the ground. As we look ahead to 2026, I’m excited to continue building on this progress, sharing learning and creating the conditions for success in every town across Scotland.
Join us
We’ll continue this conversation at our Town Centre Living Follow-up Meeting on Monday 20 January 2026 at the Social Hub, Glasgow, where we’ll focus on progress since August, practical outcomes and the road ahead for creating sustainable places fit for the future.
Elements of the Town Centre Living conversation will also feature at our annual Scotland’s Towns Conference on 27 November in Glasgow, including a workshop on resilient and liveable neighbourhoods, alongside multiple sessions on investment and urban development.
