wide backing for city square but advisory group hits out
Now 5,000 firms unite behind Sir Ian’s vision
By Ryan Crighton and Morag Lindsay
Published: 24/02/2010
Trade groups representing more than 5,000 north-east businesses have joined forces to back Sir Ian Wood’s £140million City Square plan.
In a joint announcement last night, Aberdeen and Grampian Chamber of Commerce, the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), Oil and Gas UK and the CBI declared their support for proposals to raise Union Terrace Gardens to street level.
They said the project being driven by Aberdeen City and Shire Economic Future (Acsef) would be the “catalyst” for regenerating the region.
Chamber chief executive Bob Collier hailed the Union Terrace Gardens scheme as a new dawn for the city.
He said: “We believe this project is as important to the economic success of this region as the AWPR and Trump International Golf Links.” The endorsement was a huge boost for Acsef – but the plans were also dealt a blow when the body set up to advise the Scottish Government on architecture, design and planning released a critical report on the scheme.
Architecture and Design Scotland said it had a number of concerns, including the “potentially unusable space”.
The Wood Group chairman’s “vision” to create a new civic square at the site of the Victorian park, the neighbouring railway line and the Denburn dual carriageway, using £50million of his own money, has led to heated debate in the north-east.
A two-month public consultation organised by Acsef is due to end on March 5. More than 7,000 people, including Aberdeen-born pop star Annie Lennox, have signed a petition calling for the gardens to be preserved.
Much of the opposition is from supporters of Peacock Contemporary Arts. It had full planning permission for a £13million arts centre built in the natural slope of the gardens when Sir Ian revealed his plans.
Like Acsef, the chamber of commerce previously supported the Peacock plans, but now wants to see an arts centre within the city square.
Oil and Gas UK chief executive Malcolm Webb said: “The city absolutely needs iconic developments such as the city square project if it is to cement its status as a truly global hub for oilfield goods and services.”
Aberdeen businessman Andy Willox, policy convener for the Federation of Small Businesses in Scotland, said: “This project is one of the most vital for our region.”
CBI Scotland director Iain McMillan said: “This will bring much-needed business, social and cultural benefits.”
But Fraser Denholm, of the I Heart UTG campaign, said: “This support is not surprising, because of the amount of businesses on the board of Acsef. Architects and civic design experts are saying the city square is a bad idea.”
Architecture and Design Scotland said: “We see it as extremely important that alternative proposals are carefully examined. We have some concerns about the way in which the project is currently progressing, and suggest that there are a number of issues which should be addressed.”
The Scottish Government-funded organisation – set up to promote excellence in architecture, design and planning – says it supports Acsef’s level of ambition, but was disappointed at the failure to recognise the importance of Union Terrace Gardens to the city and its residents.
It said parks were more likely to work when built from the ground, and that constructing a raised deck would be “complicated, physically and spatially, and would require extensive exploration and resolution to be successful”.
The advisory group, whose support for the Trump golf resort was instrumental in winning over doubters, also raised concerns about the “large volume of potentially unusable space” created as a result of Acsef’s plans to build a concourse directly beneath the five-acre street level square and a number of levels underneath that.
The government indicated on Monday that money could be made available for the Acsef and Peacock were able to reach a compromise.