By Marie Macklin

Copyright scotsman

US Vice-President JD Vance’s recent family holiday in the UK took him to Scotland. More specifically, it brought him to Ayrshire and to the outskirts of my hometown, Kilmarnock. Were he to have had time to explore the town, he would see, rising out of an abandoned space in its old industrial heart, a building and a concept which have the power to transform the way we think about workspaces – and, I believe, with the potential to help drive forward the process of urban and community regeneration globally. The Halo – an award-winning business innovation park, urban regeneration and business start-up support company – is a project I have steered since its inception. It is breathing new economic life into the communities around it, and I believe it can become the model for how those towns and cities impacted by the long process of deindustrialisation across much of the western world in recent decades can be rejuvenated. Firstly though, it is worth recounting the backstory to the Halo journey. When the spirits giant Diageo pulled out of Kilmarnock in 2009 it was a devastating blow to the town and the wider community. For almost 200 years, the iconic Johnnie Walker Scotch whisky brand had been associated with Kilmarnock. Diageo’s decision severed that link and ended a relationship which had delivered jobs for generations of people, supporting families and providing the economic heartbeat of the town. The decision to close it was met with a huge grassroots campaign for the company to reverse its decision and to save the plant and the jobs which went with it. It saw 20,000 people march through the town. It was a march I joined and a campaign I was proud to play a leading role in, but which was, ultimately, unsuccessful. The plant closed, and 700 jobs were lost. However, from the deep despair that the closure provoked in the local community, new hope has risen. The 23-acre site where the Johnnie Walker plant once stood is now occupied by the Halo HQ building, the centrepiece of a digital, cyber and innovation park. Halo is a net zero development providing the community with jobs and skills training as well as access to employment opportunities, clean energy and housing. It will generate £205 million in additional GDP and support up to 1,500 jobs, while based on the holistic concept of “Live, Work, Learn and Play” for its commercial and residential tenants. Halo’s enterprise and innovation centre, a commercial hub created to stimulate digital learning, will provide a conducive environment for spin-out, new-start, scale-ups, digital, manufacturing and cyber businesses of all sizes. Despite the delays caused by the Covid pandemic, the Halo HQ opened in March 2022. Halo is now central to a project which is on the verge of securing no fewer than 1,200 jobs for the Scottish economy, in a development that promises to lock in growth, opportunity and community wealth for the long term. The UK-based undersea cable manufacturer XLCC is poised to deliver 900 manufacturing-related jobs in Ayrshire, making the region a key hub for European and global development of technology which will help power the next generation of renewable energy projects. In addition, 300 more jobs are due to come to Halo in Kilmarnock. This is a project of national significance, and these posts, including project delivery and sales teams, will drive and support the manufacturing facility. Innovation The Halo concept is founded on the principle that we must build back by fostering innovation, growth and job creation so that we can reindustrialize and meet the challenges of tomorrow whilst giving workers and communities the hope of a better future. For too long, the working communities on which previous generations of economic success were founded have been abandoned. It is a phenomenon seen in the UK and more widely across other post-industrial nations – and one which recently saw a UK government minister warn that working class children faced being “written off” by society. That cannot be allowed to happen. The Halo concept provides a blueprint for how we can deliver a better future for all our communities. I have already engaged in extensive discussions with a range of parties as to how the Halo brand can be expanded beyond Scotland and the UK to other countries. I believe it can be a success in the United States, Europe and beyond. Halo is a tangible sign of hope in troubled economic times – a phoenix from the ashes which shows what is possible with hard work, commitment and a desire to chart a new way of creating economic opportunity. I am determined to share that experience and to take the Halo brand anywhere in the world where it could help effect a similar transformation. Dr Marie Macklin CBE is a leading Scottish businesswoman and investor