The site of the world’s first purpose-built PowerPlay Golf course has been announced – and Scotland, the home of golf, has secured yet another first. Playgolf East Kilbride, a new public sports complex serving the Glasgow area, is a joint venture between Playgolf (Holdings) Plc and Kilmartin Property Group. The 100-acre site will feature a nine-hole golf course (a tribute to great Scottish links golf holes, and optimised for PowerPlay Golf), a 60-bay two-tier driving range, 10 football pitches, baseball cages, a 250,000 sq ft indoor sports centre, plus extensive retail, conferencing and restaurant facilities. Scheduled to open in late 2008.

Contact Playgolf (Holdings) Plc HERE

Playgolf has signed a joint venture agreement with Scottish property developer Kilmartin to develop its East Kilbride site. Kilmartin are subscribing for a 50% stake in the development and Playgolf will receive an initial £2m. The development, which follows on from the award winning Playgolf Northwick Park, promises to establish a new level for public sports facilities in the UK.

The joint venture brings together Kilmartin, which has £1.5 billion of projects in its portfolio, with Playgolf which is at the forefront of a revolution in the creation and development of public sports projects.

David Piggins, Chief Executive of Playgolf, gave his reaction, ‘ We expect East Kilbride to be the first of a number of developments which we will undertake together. Kilmartin’s expertise and land bank give us the resources that we have lacked to develop more quickly. The paucity of good quality public sports infrastructure in the UK has become a major issue and the appetite to change this, particularly within government and local authorities, has never been stronger. This partnership with one of the UK’s fastest growing property companies gives us the opportunity to ensure that we take full advantage of the position we have created in this field over the last few years.’

Iain Wotherspoon, Chairman and Chief Executive of Kilmartin, hailed the deal as ‘an exciting step for both companies. We have identified the sports/leisure market as one of the key growth areas in UK property and Playgolf are the innovators in the field. It has been the cornerstone of our rapid growth to work in joint ventures with experts in the fields that most interest us. Having HBoS behind us has allowed us to act as a catalyst for growth for companies with potential. We intend this to be a major focus for us over the next few years.’

Work started on the East Kilbride scheme in early summer 2007.