YEAR 18
ANNUAL REVIEW April 2025 - March 2026
CONTENTS 3 INTRODUCTION 4 PROMOTING 12 PROTECTING 20 ENHANCING 26 ENGAGING 34 GOVERNANCE & FINANCE 42 THE TEAM 43 GET IN TOUCH 43 BID BOUNDARY
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INTRODUCTION
Reflecting on the last year in the city centre, we can highlight again a period of change, progress and opportunity. The BID community is made up of many different businesses in varying sectors and each have had to face challenges in our current economic climate. This annual review shows how the Essential Edinburgh team have supported the 670 business who make up our community. The visitor levy, rising costs of business, tax-free shopping, building work and excessive business rates continue to be key issues. These have been joined by the growing anti-social behaviour problems and retail theft. We continue to be flexible to meet these new priorities whilst delivering the agreed business plan. Edinburgh footfall continues to perform strongly against Scottish and UK comparators, but we cannot be complacent. We must seek new investment to support growth and harness the potential of the visitor levy to support our vital tourism sector. We would like to say a massive thank you to our levy-payers and city partners for their support and efforts during the year, as well as our board and staff team who work tirelessly to support our members. Enjoy the read!
Roddy Smith, CEO and Director, and Denzil Skinner, Chair ~3~
PROMOTING A VIBRANT CITY CENTRE ENCOURAGES PEOPLE TO VISIT, SPEND TIME, WORK AND RETURN
Square Cinema 2025
HIGHLIGHTS
All comparisons are annual and like-for-like ~5~
Square Cinema 2025
PROMOTING - £432,923 47% of total project spend EDINBURGH CITY CENTRE PERFORMANCE Footfall in the city centre totalled over 16.5M – ahead of the Scottish average by 2.5% and up 3.1% on the UK High Street. During Oasis’s three sold-out shows in August 2025 at Murrayfield Stadium, footfall rose by 22% on Rose Street and 6% across the city centre. • Footfall up 2.1% annually in Edinburgh City Centre • Hospitality Sales up 16% with all twelve months showing annual growth • Retail sales up 1% but fluctuated over the year with six months of growth – June and through August to December
SQUARE CINEMA 2025 Taking place in the stunning surroundings of St Andrew Square Garden, with LNER as the lead sponsor, Square Cinema took place from 13th to 15th June 2025: • 6,700+ people attended • 98% rated Square Cinema as very good or excellent • 130 free levy-payer adverts were shown in rotation • 74% of the audience visited the city centre specifically for the event • 68% went on to eat, drink and shop spending on average £66 in city centre businesses, giving an R.O.I of 602% ~6~
Eat Out Edinburgh 2026
EAT OUT EDINBURGH 2026 Year five of our hospitality campaign – aimed at attracting residents, workers and visitors to eat out in March across the business improvement district – was our biggest yet: • Economic value to the city centre of £6.4 million • Bookings were up 10.6%, average hospitality sales up 12.5%, and city centre footfall increased 17% compared to March 2025 • Average consumers spend of over £170 per booking. Multiple offers were used, with 69% using 2+ offers and 40% using 3+ • 57% of consumers who came for Eat Out Edinburgh also went shopping in the city centre, spending an average of £190 per person Click here to view the full 2026 results
CHINA READY SOCIAL MEDIA Now in its tenth year, China Ready social media continues to go from strength to strength. As a founding partner we continue to support their work; Edinburgh’s official Weibo, WeChat and RED channels are valuable assets for local businesses with over 206,000 loyal subscribers with over 700 million content views to March 2026. We promote the city centre, gearing content towards the Chinese audience. Key features included Eat Out Edinburgh, Square Cinema, tips for visiting, shopping trips and recommendations, and Edinburgh’s Christmas and Hogmanay.
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The Famous Spiegeltent
EDINBURGH FESTIVALS In July 2025 we hosted the Famous Spiegeltent in St Andrew Square Garden – providing performance space for both the Edinburgh Jazz & Blues Festival, and the Fringe. In addition we maintained our support for Assembly Festival on George Street, ensuring the Fringe had visible activity in the BID which could drive additional footfall and increase circulation and dwell time within the city centre.
EDINBURGH COCKTAIL WEEK 2025 Edinburgh Cocktail Week is the UK’s biggest consumer-facing cocktail festival and Essential Edinburgh remains the main sponsor. As an independently run festival with a small local team, they have always focused on creating an experience that is inclusive, unique and loved by its attendees, whilst simultaneously shining the spotlight on the capital’s bar community, upon which the festival is built. Running from 3rd to 12th October 2025, our investment in this event ensured participation from any interested levy-paying bars and restaurants, making sure footfall is driven to and circulated around our area: • Event footfall of 23.6K attendees • 78% of attendees were locals or within one hour of travel • Average bar sales totalled over £412K • The event had an estimated economic impact of £3.43M
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Paddington in St Andrew Square Garden ©UniqueAssembly
PADDINGTON IN ST ANDREW SQUARE After 18 months our Paddington statue in St Andrew Square Garden, in partnership with StudioCanal, remains as popular as ever. The queues of selfie-takers continued this reporting year providing excellent organic social media promotion for the area.
EDINBURGH’S CHRISTMAS & HOGMANAY To create footfall anchoring activity within the BID we partnered with Unique Assembly, Edinburgh Council’s contractor for Edinburgh’s Christmas and Hogmanay, for the fourth year. • Total event footfall was almost 3 million, up 4% annually • Princes Street footfall of over 2 million, recording an 11% annual rise during the winter festivals • Covered ice rink on the most westerly block of George Street saw 79.5K skaters taking to the ice • Hotel occupancy peaked at 95.8% on New Year’s Eve • Economic value to the city of £241 million
ROSE STREET BUSINESS SUPPORT To accommodate the redevelopment of Jenners, a partial closure of that Rose Street block began mid-2025. We installed directional totems and signage along the impacted block to aid visibility, wayfinding and business signposting. Through collaboration with several businesses we were also able to install high-level safety lighting along the hoarded section to provide reasurance to pedestrians during night-time hours. ~9~
St James Quarter’s Edinburgh STYLE 2026
EDINBURGH STYLE: 25 - 29 MARCH 2026 St James Quarter’s Edinburgh STYLE 2026 was a celebration of creativity, design and fashion. Essential Edinburgh supported the event for a second year, ensuring retailers from the wider BID area were able to participate within the Quarter activities, and extend STYLE 2026 into the city centre. • Footfall in Edinburgh city centre up 5% vs 2025 • 2 million views across Facebook and Instagram • Over 5 million reach from Q1 PR campaign • Essential Edinburgh and St James Quarter’s runway show presented 132 looks from 33 levy-payer brands
EDINBURGH CITY CENTRE CHANNELS Our Edinburgh City Centre consumer channels offer our businesses a platform to directly engage their local audience. • 3.6 million views / impressions across the reporting period • 1.28 million cumulative annual reach, with average monthly reach of 107,000 • 8% increase in followers across all platforms • 17% increase in Facebook followers and 14% increase for Instagram • Through edinburghcitycentre.co.uk we promoted 238 businesses to over 190,000 users, while our social channels amplified more than 80 promotional messages • Our monthly consumer newsletter reached over 4,000 locals, with an average open rate of over 68% - three times the industry standard. ~ 10 ~
Murrayfield Moments exhibition, St Andrew Square
SCOTTISH RUGBY We are developing our partnership with Scottish Rugby and Scottish Gas Murrayfield Stadium to cross-promote activities, and draw crowds from key sporting and music events into our area to spend time and enjoy all that the district has to offer. We created a visual corridor between St Andrew Square, Rose Street and Murrayfield, hosted an exhibition celebrating 100 years of the stadium, and promoted Essential Edinburgh activities to Scottish Rugby’s customer database.
EDINBURGH TOURISM ACTION GROUP We work closely with Edinburgh Tourism Action Group (ETAG), the umbrella organisation for Edinburgh’s tourism sector and the team that delivers China Ready, to support continued sustainable growth. As a member of the ETAG full group, and part of the Strategic Implementation Group and the Operational Advisory Group on Tourism, Essential Edinburgh represent members views at key industry forums.
FOREVER EDINBURGH We continue to collaborate with Edinburgh Council’s Forever Edinburgh team, ensuring levy-payers are kept updated on promotional opportunities and BID area activities are supported through @Edinburgh social channels and website.
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PROTECTING FOR OUR CITY CENTRE TO THRIVE IT IS VITAL FOR OUR BUSINESSES, STAFF AND CUSTOMERS TO FEEL SAFE AND PROTECTED
HIGHLIGHTS
All comparisons are annual and like-for-like ~ 13 ~
BID Cop PC Ehssan Sanii
PROTECTING - £93,729 10% of total project spend Partnerships are key to creating a safer, more welcoming city centre for everyone. By working with Police Scotland, Street Assist Edinburgh and Cyrenians, alongside our security initiatives and business engagement, we are delivering measurable results and meaningful change.
BID COP - PC EHSSAN SANII Our flagship Police Scotland partnership provides an enhanced police presence in the district, strengthening business resilience and helping make the city centre safer. PC Sanii gives businesses a direct link to law enforcement, providing accessible advice and support to improve city-centre safety, security and resilience. He shares vital Police Scotland alerts and security updates and regularly visits businesses to offer advice, support and training. • In this reporting year PC Sanii either visited, met with, called or emailed 292 individual levy-paying businesses, representing 45% of all levy-paying businesses • He had almost 2,000 interactions with BID businesses over the course of this reporting year. If you would like to arrange for PC Sanii to provide your business with advice, support or training, please get in touch.
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POLICE SCOTLAND
EDINBURGH CITY CENTRE CRIME STATISTICS
Robbery includes assault with intent to rob. 2 Vandalism includes reckless damage etc. 1
Data source: Police Scotland Please note: • Recorded crime is all crime reported to Police Scotland. • Crime figures reported by Police Scotland are for the reporting year 1st April 2025 to 31st March 2026 and are for the Edinburgh City Centre area. • The 5-year average includes 2020/21 but does not include current year data. ~ 15 ~
SHOPWATCH RADIO Since its introduction in April 2025 ShopWatch Radio scheme – fully funded by Essential Edinburgh – has been successfully rolled out to over 70 BID retailers. We have directly connected retailers with one another, with Police Scotland and Edinburgh Council’s CCTV Hub. Together this provides support to retailers with ongoing incidents, shares live information about offenders enabling best evidence to be captured, and helps track offenders in real time. This joined-up approach to tackling the steep rise in retail related crime is already bearing fruit with multiple arrests made and convictions secured since launch.
“As theft by shoplifting rises, partnership working with Essential Edinburgh and their businesses becomes even more crucial to prevent and detect crime. “The Essential Edinburgh funded Shop Watch Radio initiative combined with their already established and invaluable Check Out retail security project, has seen great successes in achieving both these goals. “Police Scotland looks forwards to continuing this strong and productive relationship with Essential Edinburgh into the future.” Police Inspector Stephen Quinn, City Centre Policing Unit ~ 16 ~
Street Assist Edinburgh Volunteers
STREET ASSIST EDINBURGH Street Assist Edinburgh is a charity run by skilled volunteers offering all kinds of help and support to people enjoying our vibrant city centre nightlife. They provide non-judgemental welfare and a first aid service to help people who may have become vulnerable during the busy night-time economy hours. In year three of our partnership: • 11,360 hours of support from volunteers, providing 1,693 welfare checks • Treated 1,039 patients, 80% were local residents
CHECK OUT We have been tackling retail crime together in the city centre since 2009 using our innovative information sharing system, upgraded to a digital platform in September 2023 which provides 24/7 coverage. Sharing information with local Police Scotland divisions, the Retail Crime Task Force, and subscribed retailers helps identify individuals and increases the detection (or solved incidents) rate for shoplifting. Together with our fully-funded ShopWatch Radio scheme, we are creating an unattractive location for retail related crime and antisocial behaviour, illustrated by the 100% increase in solved shoplifting crimes compared to the 5-year average. • In this operating year we circulated 1.6K alerts to +240 subscribed levy-paying retailers – that’s almost 330K emails! ~ 17 ~
Nick Harrold - Navigator Outreach Worker, Cyrenians
CYRENIANS Since 2017, we have supported people experiencing homelessness and begging through our partnership with Cyrenians. Our funding directly supports its Homeless Navigator project, helping people who are sleeping rough as well as those living in temporary accommodation. As Edinburgh’s housing crisis deepens, temporary and emergency accommodation systems are under increasing pressure. This creates even greater challenges for people living on the streets and requires Cyrenians’ frontline staff to adapt the way they work. Cyrenians Homeless Navigators provide individualised care and support on the streets of Edinburgh – face to face, hand in hand, day after day. In this reporting year the Navigator team supported: • 532 people supported on outreach - up 55% y-o-y • 188 hours of person-centred 1:1 support with 13 individuals • Helped 17 people with benefits claims and advice referrals • Helped 3 people access temporary accommodation • Accompanied people to 33 health appointments
CHECKIN Checkin was conceived in 2007 as a partnership between Essential Edinburgh, The Balmoral Hotel and Police Scotland and currently has over 140 active members. Our aim is to create a safe and secure environment for the residents, staff and visitors within our hotels. • Circulations increased annually by 4.2%. ~ 18 ~
VISIBLE REASSURANCE, EARLY INTERVENTION AND STRONG PARTNERSHIPS CREATE A SAFE AND WELCOMING CITY CENTRE ‘BID Cop’ PC Sanni and Nick Harrold - Cyrenians Outreach Worker
ENHANCING WE ALL WANT A CLEAN, ATTRACTIVE, ATMOSPHERIC DESTINATION YEAR-ROUND FOR ALL TO ENJOY
HIGHLIGHTS
All comparisons are annual and like-for-like ~ 21 ~
Members of The Clean Team (L to R): Adrian, Denim, David, Dylan, Jordan
ENHANCING - £397,418 42% of total project spend Our continued investment delivers year-round benefits, keeping our district head and shoulders above other areas of the city.
CLEAN TEAM Our amazing Clean Team deliver an unrivalled additional cleansing service for our levy-payers. They work tirelessly 363 days of the year, offering an emergency call out service, a basement cleaning service, removing chewing gum, graffiti and flyposting, as well as doing their daily rounds. All their services are above and beyond the statutory responsibility of Edinburgh Council. From 6am to 8pm they deliver an excellent service to our levy-payers, receiving superb feedback. During the year the Clean Team: • Removed 51 tonnes of litter from the streets and basements. That’s the equivalent weight of 9 African elephants! • Cleaned up 69% more hazardous waste (including drugs paraphernalia) than last year • Removed 11% more graffiti • Cleaned 5,000m2 of pavement of chewing gum • Removed 9% more flyposting than last year
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Creating an enhanced and attractive environment encourages repeat footfall and influences people to linger longer in the city centre
Christmas light trees funded by Essential Edinburgh ~ 23 ~
Badger & Co, Castle Street
OUTDOOR TERRACE SEATING Following our fifth year of successfully lobbying the City of Edinburgh Council, we again helped 17 restaurants and bars install outdoor terrace seating on George Street, Castle Street and St Andrew Square. The additional capacity supported businesses and helped create a vibrant, attractive city centre throughout spring and summer.
CHRISTMAS LIGHTING Rose Street’s year-round canopy lighting and bespoke gableend projections create a welcoming atmosphere throughout the year, boosted at Christmas with around 100 icicle-drop lights adding extra sparkle – essential illumination for the darker autumn and winter months. Four eight-metre light trees and four five-metre trees were positioned across the BID in November, creating bright focal points at street level and elevating the city centre’s festive atmosphere. We also enhanced the winter lighting in St Andrew Square Garden to create a more festive look and atmosphere,
SEASONAL DECORATION We created year-round ambience by investing in seasonal floral displays in our George Street planters, and in ensuring St Andrew Square Garden continued to be the jewel in our crown.
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St Andrew Square Garden
ST ANDREW SQUARE GARDEN On behalf of St Andrew Square Garden’s owners, we continue to maintain and manage this popular location. In this reporting year we ran our own Square Cinema event and supported multiple charitable causes and community activities including Poppy Scotland, Armed Forces Day, and Hanukkah celebrations. Our Clean Team’s dedication keeps the Garden litter-free, our annual tree welfare survey and the planting of hundreds of spring bulbs ensure it remains the most beautiful and vibrant outdoor space.
CHANGE WASTE RECYCLING More than a quarter of all BID businesses benefit from our favourable group-buying rate with Change Waste Recycling, and the more business that sign up, the bigger the savings for all. Their friendly team come into your business to collect your waste, so no more unsightly bags of refuse on the pavement, and no fines! In this reporting year, they collected a total of 2,978.4 tonnes of waste - up annually by 9% - with a recycling rate of 66% This partnership not only benefits individual levy-payers and saves you money, but it also benefits the environment too!
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ENGAGING WE LISTEN, WE SUPPORT, WE AMPLIFY YOUR VOICE
George Street and the First New Town Project ~ 26 ~
HIGHLIGHTS
All comparisons are annual and like-for-like ~ 27 ~
Roddy Smith, Essential Edinburgh CEO
ENGAGING - £6,750 1% of total project spend We listen to and amplify your voice, ensuring that your views are heard when key decisions that impact your business or the city centre are made
REPRESENTATION AND RAISING YOUR COLLECTIVE VOICE Throughout the year Essential Edinburgh worked on behalf of levy-payers to engage with stakeholders and decision makers. This included depositions at Council committee meetings, working with partner organisations and using media opportunities to put forward issues important to our levypayers.
POLITICIANS We have worked closely with engaged Councillors Joanna Mowat and Finlay McFarlane to bring issues of concern to their attention as well as regular engagement with senior elected members and officials at the Council. We met regularly with Angus Robertson, MSP for the city centre during the year and contributed policy suggestions to all parties ahead of the Holyrood election in May 26. A formal response was made to the Scottish Government’s High Streets review.
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Gillian James & Grant Roberts, Business Engagement Managers
BUSINESS ENGAGEMENT MANAGERS Our Business Engagement Managers, Gillian James and Grant Roberts, are there to ensure your business maximises your benefit from the BID. Always on hand to help, they share important information with you whilst continually gathering your feedback to ensure we always accurately represent your views and proactively support your needs. • If you would like Grant or Gillian to pop in, help connect you to the wider BID community, or any other support, please get in touch.
EDINBURGH VISITOR LEVY The visitor levy is now operational. During the reporting year we engaged with hoteliers, Edinburgh Council and other tourism agencies as the implementation came closer. We have engaged with Edinburgh Council to highlight opportunities for the effective use of the visitor levy funds to deliver cleansing and security projects in the city centre. We believe Essential Edinburgh is ideally placed to deliver a cost effective and efficient service whilst giving direct accountability to our levy payers.
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TRANSFORMING THE CITY We remain vocal on the need for a mixed-use approach to the city centre, supporting developments as they arise and working closely and proactively with new BID area developments, both in planning and construction phases. We have supported developers and contractors to ease issues related to construction as well as managing engagement with other businesses affected by the builds. It is great to see the Clayton and Jenners developments progressing and the Point A hotel now open.
HIGH STREETS UK As a founding member of High Streets UK, we have supported a pro-growth, nationwide partnership of business representatives which aims to tackle the most pressing issues facing the UK’s flagship high streets and unlock local and national growth. During the year this has included summits on retail crime and tourism and having a visible presence at political parties conferences. Meeting quarterly, the representatives from leading UK BIDs have combined forces on issues such as business rates reform, city centre security issues, and tourism including the implementation of visitor levies. Lessons from Leeds and Manchester have been provided to Edinburgh Council officials about better leverage of public/ private partnerships to drive public realm developments in city centres. ~ 30 ~
George Street Project
GEORGE STREET PROJECT In early 2026 a decision by Edinburgh Councillors has expanded the scope of this project to include the wider city centre. Although this has led to another delay, it has given an important opportunity to address the poor public realm across Princes Street, Rose Street and the cross streets as well as George Street. Significant time and financial resource have already been spent getting the George Street plan ready to implement. We have asked for a long-term commitment across political parties to make this a reality as any further delays are unacceptable. The use of visitor levy funds as well as central Council resource can make this happen, but it needs political commitment not argument.
SEEDL TRAINING PLATFORM All Essential Edinburgh levy-payers have free and unlimited access to on-demand and live training through the SeedL portal. From Microsoft Office skills to Mental Health Awareness, Environmental, Social and Governance and CPD accredited development programmes, there’s something to support every businesses commitment to developing their staff. • Active users increased year on year by 32% • 180% increase in total training undertaken
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St Andrew Square Garden
ST ANDREW SQUARE GARDEN We chair the partnership group for St Andrew Square Garden to discuss the key issues needed to maintain it as a high-quality open space in the city centre. In this reporting year, we successfully negotiated the return of the Famous Spiegeltent for 2025, bringing more festival-goers into the city centre during August. We also supported multiple local events such as Armed Forces Day, Poppy Scotland, Social Bite’s Festival of Kindness, and Hanukkah.
WORKING IN PARTNERSHIP Over the course of the year, we engaged with: The Scottish Hospitality Group - the Association of Town Centre Managers - Association of International Retail (AIR) - Scottish City BIDs - Edinburgh and Scottish Chambers of Commerce Scottish Retail Consortium - Police Scotland - City of Edinburgh Council - Edinburgh Tourism Action Group - Edinburgh Hotel Association - the Scottish Tourism Alliance - Visit Scotland – Association of Scottish Visitor Attractions (ASVA) - Lothian Buses - UK Inbound - High Streets UK - Scottish Government Scotland’s Towns Partnership - George Street Association and many others. Working together we highlight and support issues of mutual interest and capitalise on opportunities to promote our city and BID area.
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Rose Street
CITY CENTRE MONITORING PROJECT We have been monitoring the economic health of the city centre since 2009, gathering vacancy rates, footfall data, retail and hospitality sales percentages. These key indicators are reported on our digital stats dashboard on our website, and in our Friday e-newsletter. If you are a retail or hospitality business who is not yet participating in our sales monitors, please consider taking part to enrich our data streams. All that is required to participate is your percentage sales change on the same month the year before, and all data is anonymised. If you are able to participate, please get in touch.
WAYFINDING Our Rose Street directories, at the ends of each block, remain the only physical business directories in the city. They are refreshed annually ahead of the busy summer months and have been collaboratively designed to visually partner the city’s pedestrian wayfinding totems.
OLD TOWN BID We have offered support to colleagues developing the Old Town BID. If successful at our respective ballots, we will work closely with them to forge a united business voice across the wider city centre and where appropriate share resources and skills to ensure efficiencies.
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The team from FUSE (L to R): Lindsay, Kaitlin, Lesley and Myles
FUSE FUSE was set up to deliver high-quality recruitment and training support for retail, leisure and hospitality sectors citywide. FUSE is the official training and recruitment partner for St James Quarter and the wider Essential Edinburgh BID area, delivered in collaboration with Capital City Partnership and St James Quarter. Through our partnership, hospitality, leisure and retail levy-payers can access training opportunities for all their staff, and support for their recruitment needs, all at no cost.
TAX-FREE SHOPPING We continue to lobby, along with High Streets UK, Association of International Retail, the New West End Company, and other interested parties, to reverse the UK Government’s decision to abolish tax-free shopping. With a return to the previous scheme unlikely, we have been looking at developing new digital schemes that may work as an alternative.
BUSINESS RATES REFORM We made representations to politicians through our partnerships with trade bodies, High Streets UK and ATCM, and supported proposals by the Heart of London Business Alliance looking at alternative models.
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Princes Street fire - pedestrian wayfinding totems
PRINCES STREET FIRE RESPONSE Following the devastating fire at the former Debenhams site on Princes Street we acted on behalf of all businesses within the disrupted blocks of Rose Street and Princes Street to minimise the significant impact as much as possible. We worked closely with Edinburgh Council and authorities to support the businesses most affected: • We represented our levy-payers at the weekly Princes Street Resilience meetings, ensuring our member’s needs were at the forefront of all discussions • We ensured local businesses were kept as informed as possible during the full closure • We pushed for the reopening of businesses at the earliest possible juncture • We installed pedestrian wayfinding totems at each side of the closure to support business trading • We worked with promoters and the Council to relocate Fringe Festival activity from George Street to St Andrew Square Garden
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GOVERNANCE STRONG GOVERNANCE UNDERPINS OUR WORK ENSURING ACCOUNTABILITY, OVERSIGHT AND TRANSPARENCY
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B CORP ACCREDITATION In March 2026, following independent verification by B Lab, Essential Edinburgh became the world’s first B Corp certified Business Improvement District. The certification recognises our commitment to social and environmental responsibility, and reflects our dedication to responsible, transparent practices that benefit our city centre community.
INDUSTRY ACCREDITATIONS At the start of 2026 we also achieved accreditation from both Improvement Districts Scotland and British BIDs. These independent audits of the processes and procedures at the heart of Essential Edinburgh’s operations will continue to reassure our levy-payers that we meet the highest industry standards, operating transparently and collaboratively to deliver tangible value to our members, partners and city centre stakeholders.
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NET ZERO BY 2030 Edinburgh has committed to one of the world’s most ambitious climate goals: reaching net zero by 2030. Achieving this will require coordinated action across the city, with public bodies, businesses, organisations and communities all contributing to the transition. By working together, Edinburgh can reduce its environmental impact while helping to create a cleaner, greener and more resilient city for everyone who lives, works in and visits the capital. We will play our part by auditing our Scope 1–3 emissions annually, giving us a clear picture of the emissions associated with our operations, energy use, supply chain and wider activities. This evidence will help us set clear reduction targets for each year, monitor our progress and focus our efforts where they can have the greatest impact. We will continue to review how we work, identify practical opportunities to reduce emissions and encourage collaboration across our network to support Edinburgh’s journey to net zero. In our third annual Scope 1-3 emissions report, we reduced our total emissions by 67% - well ahead of our annual target of 7% reduction: • Scope 1 – direct emissions – reduced by 85% • Scope 2 – indirect emissions – reduced by 45% • Scope 3 – value chain emissions – increased by 16%
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RENEWAL BALLOT 2027 Consultation with our members began in May with our Key Priorities Survey, an essential piece of work that helped us understand your businesses priorities for the future. The survey results have shaped the core of our draft business plan, circulated over the summer to all businesses eligible to vote in 2027. Through further business consultation and engagement we have finalised our strategy for the next five years, and the Business Plan for 2027 – 2032 will be published in February 2027.
RENEWAL BALLOT - FAQs Q: If Essential Edinburgh is unsuccessful at renewal ballot in March 2027, will another company run the Business Improvement District (BID) in their place? A: No – The vote is not about who runs the BID, but if the BID continues to exist and operate in the city centre. • If a “yes” vote is returned Essential Edinburgh will seamlessly continue to operate and deliver for a fifth term from April 2027 – March 2032. • If a “no” vote is returned, all services and activities provided by or through Essential Edinburgh will cease with immediate effect. For more information on the renewal ballot, and to find answers to other frequently aked questions, please visit www.essentialedinburghrenewal.co.uk ~ 39 ~
98% collection rate
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95% collection rate
Planned deficit covered by reserves ~ 41 ~
The Essential Edinburgh Team (L to R): Emily, Grant S, Grant R, Roddy, Mark and Gillian
Though small in number, our hard-working and dedicated staff and board continue to deliver an amazing amount.
THE TEAM Emily Campbell Johnston, Senior Manager, Marketing & Communications Gillian James, Business Engagement Manager Grant Roberts, Business Engagement Manager Grant Stewart, Senior Manager, Projects Mark Farvis, Digital Media Manager Roddy Smith, CEO & Director
Essential Clean Team (sub-contracted to Mitie)
Adrian Garcia Ballesta David Smith, Contract Manager Denim Robertson Dylan Clark Jordan Wilson Peter Newby Samir Sefiani Castelar
THE BOARD Anne Ledgerwood, Westfield St James Quarter Chris Brydie, NatWest
Councillor Lezley Marion Cameron, The City of Edinburgh Council
David Lindgren, Company Secretary
Louise Maclean, Signature Pubs
David Stewart, DM Stewart
Lynzi Leroy, Scottish Design Exchange
Denzil Skinner, Chair Ian Smith, Aberdeen Kimberley Stevenson-Grant, Hamilton & Inches
Stephen Walker, The Balmoral Hotel Vicki Jones, John Lewis & Partners ~ 42 ~
GET IN TOUCH Clean Team Rapid Response: 07919 560 290 Marketing Team marketing@essentialedinburgh.co.uk Change Waste Recycling wwylie@changewasterecycling.co.uk Cyrenians: www.cyrenians.scot FUSE: hello@edinburghfuse.com
@EssentialEdin
Essential Edinburgh
@EdinCityCentre
BID BOUNDARY
Essential Edinburgh 3rd Floor East, 90A George Street, Edinburgh, EH2 3DF T: 07756 883 234 | info@essentialedinburgh.co.uk EssentialEdinburgh.co.uk | EdinburghCityCentre.co.uk ©ESSENTIAL EDINBURGH 2026 The reproduction or publication of any part of this document is strictly prohibited. ~ 43 ~