Moray is a region with outstanding natural resources, world-renowned brands and a high standard of living. It offers an exceptional environment in which to live and work; spectacular mountains, world famous coastlines, a national park and close proximity to major Scottish cities.
Moray has the expertise to support the growth of world class businesses. The region is home to renowned food and drink brands, from Walkers shortbread to Baxters foods and numerous Speyside whiskies providing high end products to international markets, as well as small, high quality niche producers.
Moray is located between Scotland’s oil capital, Aberdeen and the Highlands’ capital city, Inverness. It has a population of over 93,000 and within just an hour’s catchment there is a working age population of over 147,000.
Coupled with its flourishing industries, this means there is easy access to a large, highly skilled and affordable local workforce.
Ambitious plans to create hundreds of high quality jobs and business opportunities by developing a North Highland and Moray ‘space cluster’ are advancing at pace.
Orbex has set up a Scottish base at the Enterprise Park Forres in 2019. It includes a rocket design and integration facility, a space mission control centre and executive offices.
Based on the park, Orbex is developing the Orbex Prime, an innovative new low-carbon launch vehicle that will transport small satellites into Earth orbit from Space Hub Sutherland, the launch site that HIE is developing near Tongue on the A' Mhoine peninsula. The rocket is poised to become one of the most environmentally friendly orbital launch vehicles ever built, benefiting from the use of renewable, ultra-low-carbon biofuel. It is also designed to be reusable and to not leave any debris.
The Orbex Prime project has already led to the creation of around 100, highly skilled jobs, with the majority of them based in Moray.
The space sector in the Highlands and Islands
Moray has a long history as an electrical and mechanical engineering and fabrication base for the oil, gas and distillation industries which means it is perfectly placed for diversification into the renewable energy supply chains.
The park is currently home to Makar Technologies and Biomatrix Water.
There are a number of strands of life sciences emerging in Moray, in particular the cutting edge digital health solutions that are being developed in the region. This is continually being strengthened by a growing cluster of activity along the A96 Inverness to Elgin “corridor”.
Businesses operating on the Enterprise Park include Gael Force group.
Find out more about the life sciences and aquaculture sectors in the Highlands and Islands
Moray is also a power house when it comes to some of our more traditional sectors. With significant international awareness of our superb landscape, environment and culture, tourism is a key component of the region’s economy, employing 24,000 and underpinning many of the communities across the region.
Scotland’s food and drink sector contributes £1bn to the economy and it is a particularly significant sector in the Highlands and Islands, a region renowned for producing high quality food and drink products. Leading Scottish brands such as Walkers Shortbread and Baxter’s Food Group, makers of the popular Baxter’s soups, have their headquarters in Moray.
Moray is also home to several of the world famous distilleries making up the Moray and speyside malt whisky trail.
Moray offers a workforce with a great reputation for business process outsourcing. The region’s location represents cost efficiencies with lower average rents and salaries, while providing an experienced and loyal workforce, highly skilled in delivering excellent customer service.
Find out more about this sector and who's operating across our region.
One of Moray’s greatest assets is its talented workforce. Across the region, concentrated activity has developed in the industries of tourism, food and drink, life sciences and manufacturing. Many of the skills obtained by personnel in these sectors are wholly transferrable.
There has been an RAF base in Moray for over 65 years, making a significant contribution to the economic prosperity of the area. Military personnel are skilled and well trained in various relevant roles, from Engineering and ICT to Logistics and Operations.
In education, Scotland's academic institutions are renowned for research and teaching excellence. The local Moray College is an integral part of the University of the Highlands and Islands, which currently enrols over 8,000 students.
Surrounded by beautiful coastlines, sandy beaches and picturesque rolling hills, the residents of Moray live in an environment that is the envy of anyone who visits the region.
There is a host of things to see and do. It’s the perfect place to get up and go enjoy the country life with outdoor activities to suit any taste, or to relax, unwind and relish some of the freshest, most delicious seafood that money can buy.
Housing is particularly affordable and there are a number of high quality schools available in every town.
It’s also amongst the sunniest and driest areas in the country, which is probably why it was recently voted as one of the top 5 rural regions in Scotland for quality of life.
Find out more about the Highlands and Islands, and how HIE can support you to make the move.
The Enterprise Park, Forres can be easily accessed no matter how you’re travelling or where you’re travelling from.
Inverness Airport is only 35 minutes away, whilst Aberdeen Airport is no more than a 90-minute drive. Moray has better air connections than most UK locations with 138 flights per week including 35 flights to London airports and a daily connection into the international hub of Amsterdam.
Adjacent to the A96, the park is well linked by road, rail and air to other parts of the UK. Train services connect to Glasgow and Edinburgh at least 12 times each working day with journey times from just 4 hours. Opening in 2017, the Forres railway station is within a 5 minute drive from the park.
