Calls for rethink on arts centre

A BUSINESS leader has called for a rethink on multimillion-pound plans for a contemporary arts centre in the heart of Aberdeen.

Aberdeen City Centre Association chairman John Michie says future generations will lose out if the £13million arts centre is built in Union Terrace Gardens.

He has written to councillors calling on them to abandon funding of the Peacock Visual Arts scheme, saying it would “deprive” the city of long-term opportunities.

Mr Michie described the park as the most strategically important space in Aberdeen. He would prefer to see the progression of plans to raise the level of the gardens – previously called the Millennium Square project.

“Our objective is to increase the critical mass of people using our city centre, he said, “and to do that we require a high-quality city centre focus where all sorts of social interaction can take place – and at the same time expand on and make the gardens more accessible”.

Mr Michie doubts if a contemporary arts centre will attract enough visitors to revive the city centre. By raising the level of the gardens, he said, a vertical lift could take visitors from an improved train station to the park, while also incorporating conference facilities and a car park in the development.

Mr Michie, of Michie’s the Chemist in Union Street, said he had nothing against the Peacock project, and he supported culture and the arts.

“All we are saying is that we think the Union Terrace Gardens area has enormous potential for the future and we have to be very careful about how we develop it.”

Peacock campaigns manager Ellie Rothnie said Dundee’s Contemporary Arts centre had transformed its city centre and said: “Mr Michie has his concerns, but the Aberdeen City and Shire Economic Forum has actually highlighted us as one of the top six projects necessary for Aberdeen to regenerate and attract more people.”