Empty Union Street offices – once a packed-out Aberdeen picture house – are to be converted into 15 affordable homes.
Developer Cater Homes has struck a deal with Hillcrest Homes to breathe fresh life into 181 Union Street.
And the builder has revealed there are further plans to add its city centre portfolio in the months ahead.
Planning permission and consents were gained for 181 Union Street last autumn, after months of wrangling over the listed building’s future.
But Aberdeen-based Cater’s latest partnership with one of the country’s largest housing associations will come as a welcome boost to those tasked with getting more people living on the Granite Mile.
The Our Union Street coalition recently revealed more than 4,000 crowdsourced ideas to turn around the fortunes of the city’s main thoroughfare – including getting more people living there.
But bringing more of the empty offices of the upper storeys back into use as flats lining Union Street has been a long-term aspiration for city planners.
Hillcrest will landlord the 15 flats, adding to the association’s housing stock.
Gone With The Windows: Former Union Street cinema to become affordable homes
In recent years, the premises have been used as offices for the NHS and space for virtual golfing firm Golfscape.
But it housed the Gaumont cinema – also known as the Picture House – up until the 1970s.
Upstairs, where the flats are to be built, was a gallery in the 1950s.
Downstairs, Merkur Slots opened in the former Ponden Homes premises last April.
Now it will be hoped its Hollywood transformation, including new windows and roof lighting, will help turn the tide on Union Street’s decline.
Project manager Ewan Gibson said Cater Homes was “delighted” to have agreed the design and build contract.
He added: “When we bought the site two years ago, we were excited by the opportunity to breathe life back into the building on Aberdeen’s main thoroughfare, a street which has rightly been in the limelight recently.
“We are looking forward to working with Hillcrest on our second development in Aberdeen.”
‘An exciting time for the city centre’
The two have teamed up on the transformation of the former Scottaspress printworks in Maberly Street.
Another joint project at a former Dundee job centre takes their running total to 83 homes built with the housing association.
Back in Aberdeen, Cater Homes is also working on the conversion of next door 173 Union Street into 17 flats, above the Santander bank.
Mr Gibson added: “It is great to be a part of what I believe can be an exciting time for the city centre, we are proud that our projects will help bring much needed footfall back into the area.”
His firm has been active in the Aberdeen property market in recent years, recently snapping up the former Health and Safety Executive base Lord Cullen House.
Similar housing plans are also in the works for the “eyesore” Atholl House office block in Guild Street.
Mr Gibson confirmed Cater “has eyes” on another prominent city centre property, with hopes of a further boon to regeneration efforts.
Conversation