Gray’s graduate opposes plan to raise Union Terrace Gardens and Denburn Valley to street level
Over 1,000 sign internet petition backing Peacock gallery
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More than 1,000 people from across Aberdeen city and shire have backed a campaign to build a £14million contemporary art gallery in the city.
The city council is looking at proposals to create a civic square on the site of the Denburn Valley and Union Terrace Gardens.
Peacock Visual Arts wants to redevelop the gardens and construct an arts centre on the Union Terrace Gardens site, but the plans have been put into some doubt after Wood Group chairman Sir Ian Wood pledged £50million of his own money towards the cost of fully covering the site and raising Union Terrace Gardens and the Denburn Valley to street level.
If Sir Ian’s plans are approved, it would be impossible to build the centre as the building was designed to work with the existing landscape and cannot be built if the gardens are concreted over.
Gray’s School of Art graduate Katie Guthrie, 24, created an online petition in a bid to save the gardens and the planned centre.
Miss Guthrie, who graduated with a degree in painting in 2006, said: “We are delighted with the response so far.
“What this demonstrates is that there are lots of people who care and are passionate about the future of their city.
“We all agree that Aberdeen needs an exciting new feature to create a more positive focal point, but losing the last green space in the city is not the way to do this.”
Development body Aberdeen City and Shire Economic Future, the driving force behind the civic square proposals, said the arts centre had always been a key part of the regeneration plans.
Miss Guthrie, of Spa Street, Aberdeen, said: “We are hoping to meet with Sir Ian and the members of Aberdeen City and Shire Economic Future board shortly to explain our concerns, in the hope that a compromise can be found in which Union Terrace Gardens remains untouched and that funding will be secure for Peacock's original arts centre plans."
The petition was posted on the networking website Facebook and has attracted 1,047 signatures so far but campaigners now plan to take to the streets of Aberdeen.
The proposals will be put out to public consultation shortly.
