An office building at the heart of transformational changes in Aberdeen city centre scooped one of the top gongs at property industry awards in Glasgow yesterday.
Judges chose the Silver Fin building at the west end of Union Street as their winner for the best commercial workplace in Scotland award.
It comes only a year after Silver Fin’s next door neighbour, the Capitol building, carried off the same title.
The £65million office Silver Fin development opened last autumn, adding to a rapidly changing city skyline and nine floors of Grade A office space, plus four levels of underground car parking, to Aberdeen’s commercial property market.
Yesterday’s accolade came at the Scottish heat of the annual British Council for Offices (BCO) property awards, which recognise excellence in the office sector.
Marischal Square in Aberdeen was “highly commended” in the same category.
The Silver Fin was praised by judges as a “best-in-class” development which had helped to revitalise part of Union Street.
They also said Titan Investors, which developed the site speculatively, and Silver Fin’s designers should be proud of their “brave” approach.
The 132,000sq ft office complex – a joint venture between Titan and British Airways Pension Fund – is on the site of the old Bells Hotel.
Once fully let, there could be more than 1,000 people working there.
Serviced office specialist Orega signed up for nearly 27,000ft, or nearly 20% of the total accommodation.
BCO Scottish judging panel chairman David Dool said: “The prevailing theme from this year’s entries was a focus from occupiers on bringing people together within a range of work settings.
“This manifested itself in various ways across the projects, such as incorporating spaces within a workplace designated for group collaboration, or the inclusion of fun and irreverent design features around which people can gather.
“Occupiers and their employees will benefit from this sense of togetherness, and the associated increase in productivity and impact on wellness that it can bring.”
Standard Life Aberdeen’s new headquarters in Edinburgh won the best corporate workplace award. All five category winners are in with a chance of further success at BCO’s UK awards in October.