Rooftop gardens, Christmas villages and creative lighting are just a few of the initiatives Aberdeen Inspired has had a hand in.
The organisation, established in 2011, is tasked with sprucing up the city centre to encourage more people to use it.
It’s a job that lets chief executive Gary Craig get the creative juices flowing among the 700 businesses Aberdeen Inspired represents.
Mr Craig, who was appointed in December 2014, thinks the last 12 months have been successful and has plenty more ideas up his sleeve for the next five years.
Aberdeen Inspired hopes to invest £6.5million over the next half-decade. Many of the initiatives centre on attracting new events and festivals and improving existing ones, and making it easier to get around the city centre.
Mr Craig, who is from Perth but has lived in the north-east for 16 years, said: “Before I took on the role I was aware of the negative feeling in the city. For a while I was a critic of the lack of good quality events and festivals, but I decided that rather than complain I would try to make a difference.”
Mr Craig, 55, said the highlights from the new business plan include organising a “bigger and better” Christmas village – last year’s attracted more than 500,000 people – and expanding the jazz and urban light festival.
Mr Craig is also working with Aberdeen Performing Arts, his former employer, on a music festival in September, and is keen to organise a comedy event.
Furthermore, Aberdeen Inspired will work with bus companies to make sure they are aware of events well in advance, which will allow them to place advertising on public transport and arrange discounted fares. The organisation has spoken out against suggestions the council will increase the cost of city centre parking to £4 an hour.
One of the most notable projects not linked to a festival, will be the planned clean-up of Union Street, which was one of the top requests from businesses.
The “spring clean” would see chewing gum removed, pavements deep cleaned, shop front grants dished out, while business owners would be given more responsibility for their own areas.
Plans are all well and good, but will Aberdeen Inspired be given a mandate to help carry them out? The organisation is in the middle of a six-week renewal ballot and needs to get 25% and a majority Yes vote for it to continue for another five years. Mr Craig is “quietly confident” of getting over the line.
Aberdeen Inspired received a shot in the arm last week when its biggest levy payer, the city council, voted unanimously for the group to continue its work.
Mr Craig said: “I report to a board of experienced business people who think the work we’ve done in the last year is starting to make a difference.
“Our role is even more important just now given the difficulties in local economy.”
Mr Craig joined the organisation from Aberdeen Performing Arts, which gave him first-hand experience of how the events business works in the Granite City. Prior to that, he worked as finance director at Grampian Police for eight years.
Mr Craig said: “Moving to police was a big challenge because of size and complexity of what they did while having resource restraints and being in the papers every day.
“I loved that job. It was really interesting.”
If working for the police was satisfying, so is turning around the fortunes of Aberdeen’s businesses, though there are drawbacks.
“The job is frustrating at times, but also rewarding when you see what has been delivered and the impact it’s had on areas of the city. We’re seeing people from Aberdeen and beyond coming into the city centre and enjoying themselves.”
“On the other hand, there’s a lot of negativity. Most people speak highly of city they’re from. That’s certainly the case in Glasgow and Edinburgh.
“We’re trying to improve things and I would love Aberdonians to be more positive about the city and what the surrounding area has to offer. To me it’s a great place to live and work in and visit.”
