Marks & Spencer is to invest £30m to open or expand shops in Scotland.

Marks & Spencer store

Marks & Spencer is investing £30m in its Scottish stores

The bulk of Marks & Spencer’s spend will be in Aberdeen, where it will devote £15m to double the size of its Union Square city-centre branch and introduce its modernised big-store format.

M&S said the Aberdeen work would be one of the biggest private-sector investments in the city for years.

Union Square is expected to complete in spring next year and will be the fourth-largest M&S in Scotland. The retailer’s St Nicholas Street shop will shut.

M&S said that all staff on permanent contracts will transfer to the new store or other nearby branches.

Other investments in M&S’ Scottish store network include a new food hall in Linlithgow, West Lothian, opening later this month, a new full-line branch in Dundee’s Gallagher Retail Park this summer and a food hall in Largs, North Ayrshire – the retailer’s first shop in the town.

M&S operations director Sacha Berendji said: “This is our biggest ever investment in Scotland, bringing new jobs across the country.

“Our investment in Scotland goes beyond new stores, with M&S sourcing more Scottish produce than ever before, through strong partnerships with local producers.”

M&S is in the midst of a £500m store-rotation programme across the UK as it focuses on bigger, better shops that form a key part of its omnichannel strategy.