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With its strategic location, Swindon is a key centre for manufacturing and distribution and is also home to major financial and business services occupiers. With a growing reputation for growth and innovation its location is key to its success. The regeneration framework in the town is expanding on this success and boosting Swindon's appeal as a place to live and work.

The market report provides a Swindon-wide view of the economic environment, the regeneration plans and a comprehensive look into the office, retail and leisure, industrial and logistics and residential markets.

Peter James, Chief Executive of The New Swindon Company, commented: "There is clearly a lot going on in Swindon at the moment, in terms of business and regeneration. With the recent credit crunch and fears of economic decline, it has been really encouraging for us to see this report put together - it highlights how well Swindon is performing and a town, and gives us a real vision for the future."

Peter Wynn of the South West Regional Development Agency, said: "I very much welcome this report. It demonstrates the underlying strength of Swindon as a place to to invest in. The South West RDA recognises the importance of Swindon as an economic dynamo in the M4 corridor and has committed millions of pounds to support the regeneration of the Town Centre and underpin the towns continued growth and success as a place to live and work."

Paul Grover, Planning and Development Associate at Knight Frank, comments: "Swindon has the potential to become one of the South West's real success stories in the coming decades. It already has a strong reputation as a good place to do business and with its dramatic regeneration programme, the town is poised to reinforce its status as one of the fastest growing towns in Europe. I would encourage investors, developers and corporate organisations alike to better recognise Swindon's impressive investment credentials and capitalise on the opportunities on offer in 2008 and beyond."

• Despite uncertainty in the UK housing market, demand in Swindon will continue to be high - 35,000 new units are planned for the town over the next 20 years.
• The Swindon economy is expected to outperform the UK by a notable margin, with growth of 3.1 percent p.a. compared with 2.7 percent for the UK as a whole.
• Swindon is expected to experience a very high employment growth of 8 percent over the next five years - the UK wide figure is only half that at 4 percent..
• The regeneration framework, which will guide over £1bn of investment across an area measuring 544 hectares, will bring 969,000 sq ft of new office space, more than 1m sq ft of retail and leisure space and 3,000 new homes.