Scotland offers the best locations for your business to thrive. For example, key cities Aberdeen, Edinburgh and Glasgow provide exciting opportunities in all sectors – from energy to finance to life sciences and more. And our well-connected cities mean you’re always close to the global market. 

Business clusters and Enterprise Zones

Being in Scotland means you’ll also benefit from business clusters. This means you can choose to locate your business in a specialised centre of excellence for your sector.  

Our 16 Enterprise Zones offer support to help you set up and expand, including:  

• Simplified planning processes
• Financial incentives
• Business-ready infrastructures 

Find out more about business clusters and Enterprise Zones opens in a new window  

It’s easy to lease a property for your business in Scotland. Leasing practices in Scotland are based on UK land laws. As a business, you need to consider: 

• The length of your lease
• Any rent-free periods
• Rental cost reviews that change the rate
• Insurance and repairs
• Additional costs, such as Value Added Tax (VAT)
• Business rates, which are set by the local authority
• Get advice 

It’s important you understand the terms of leasing property for your business. A solicitor knows the local commercial property market and can help you navigate the legal complexities of negotiating a lease. 

Find professional and legal advice 

It’s essential your business has the right IT, phone and internet infrastructure to succeed in Scotland and internationally. Businesses across Scotland use digital technologies to grow and compete, both at home and internationally. 

In Scotland, you have a wide choice of IT, phone and internet infrastructure providers and implementation services. 

Internet 

In Scotland, you can choose from several internet options according to transfer speeds and processing times.

These include: 

• ADSL 2+ – offers fast broadband for your business
• Business fibre optics– offers superfast broadband for your business
• Ethernet First Mile Line (EFM) – dedicated direct line for your business, ideal for things like Voice over IP (VoiP), video conferencing and sharing large data files
• Fibre Leased Lines – dedicated one-to-one data connection between sites, ideal if you need speed, reliability and security

Phones

You can choose analogue or digital telephone lines for your business. A digital system is the most popular choice because it offers a more comprehensive system. Digital setups allow your business to have a single main number as well as individual numbers for people at your company.  

Alternatively, a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) allows you to install a dedicated internet connection and use voice calls. 

Broadband

Today, 99% of the Scottish population has access to standard broadband. 95% of businesses in Scotland and the UK have access to superfast broadband — already higher than France, Germany, Italy and Spain.  

Get advice and compare 

You can compare providers and broadband, phone and IT prices in Scotland opens in a new window on cable.co.uk.

We can also give you advice on setting up IT infrastructure for your business.