Iain Nicholson casts an eye around the grotty upper floor of 463 Union Street, which was once home to one of many closed bank branches.
Retail expert Iain is now heading up a panel working hard to identify new uses for these rows of empty spaces lining both sides of the Granite Mille.
They hope that their work will ultimately rejuvenate the struggling street.
And that’s why I find myself standing in the forlorn space, next to the Capitol office complex.
This is exactly the sort of decaying space this specialist taskforce is determined to turn around.
Joining Iain on the high street crusade are designer Richard Tinto, Ross Grant and Adrian Watson from Aberdeen Inspired, chartered surveyor Shona Boyd and Aberdeen City Council officials.
I joined the crack team of experts on a visit to one of these empty units to find out how they plan to save the Granite Mile’s upper floors from disarray before its too late…
Big challenge ahead for Union Street upper floors crusade
Entering the former bank at the top of Union Street, the first thing I clock is the stark barebone appearance of the unit.
The ground floor has been fully stripped back, with the wooden frames on show and even some holes in the floor exposing the grimy basement below.
Ross begins to tell me about the group’s progress so far as we have a look around each nook and cranny.
This is the fourth derelict unit the group has visited that day, with their exploratory journey taking them along the whole stretch of the Granite Mile.
But despite it looking like quite the challenge to my untrained eye, the local councillor is feeling positive about today’s boots on the ground operation.
Ross tells me: “The key takeaway from today for me is that each of the upper floor spaces has their own specific opportunities and barriers.
“I think the panel discussions so far has been really refreshing, really positive.”
Who is the retail expert leading the charge?
And before we head upstairs to the former offices of the bank – I begin chatting to one of the big guns Aberdeen Inspired have enlisted.
The city centre Bid (Business Improvement District) received £15,000 of government funding in 2024 to find the key to bringing the Granite Mile’s upper floors back to life.
Using this cash, they’ve drafted in Iain – who is the founder of the Vacant Shops Academy.
He is a former BBC radio reporter, who has been working on boosting town and city centres since 2013.
Amids the exposed steel beams and knocked down walls, he enthuses about the project.
The 66-year-old explains: “We’re starting off by thinking about what could go in these in these spaces? What are the barriers to that happening? How can those barriers be overcome?
“We want to get away from this situation where agents and landlords are left with really challenging buildings where maybe the finances don’t stack up in terms of commercially sorting it out.
“We want to look at the opportunities and the ways Union Street and Aberdeen can help with tackling some of those places.”
‘We want to make it easy to come to Union Street’
As the panel inspect the bare interior of the upper floors and begin to gather their thoughts on the building, I grab a word with one of the biggest names in Aberdeen’s architecture game.
Richard Tinto, of Tinto Architecture, is another who has been showing his passion throughout the afternoon for turning around Union Street’s upper floors.
His firm are currently overseeing the revamp of the former John Lewis into a go-karting mecca, along with the much-anticipated return of the Belmont Cinema.
The Aberdeen-based designer also has previous experience in bringing Union Street’s upper floors back to life.
Plans drawn up by Richard are currently in place to turn the empty space above the Tag Heuer showroom into fancy apartments.
And for him, the group’s main goal shares similarities with one of the Beatles’ many hits.
As we huddle around in what is a quite tight office, he tells me: “If someone has a desire to move into Union Street, one of the great wins for the group would be to make that as easy as possible for them.
“Right now it’s a little bit siloed and disjointed, and it needs a few different moving parts to come together.
“If we can be that ‘come together’ then that’s it.”
So what happens next?
This is the first step of a lengthy process for the team of experts, with it likely being years before units like this one are fully given a new lease of life.
For now, the group’s goals are to get their ideas together on what the units could be used for, and then writing up a report.
This would then be sent back to the building’s owners – offering advice and solutions on how to overcome the current hurdles which have discouraged any revival efforts yet.
And the panel’s crusade doesn’t stop there.
They tell me they’re planning on pushing Holyrood to change some of the more frustrating planning policies that have stopped developers and dreamers alike in the past.
Are there any plans for Union Street upper floors at the moment?
But whilst the group’s work has only just begun, the Granite Mile already has a vast array of plans in the pipeline for reviving some of its upper floors.
A new golf mecca is on the cards, being opened by Golf Academy Scotland.
The firm are keeping tight lipped on their plans for now, but say it will include a top of the range simulator, lessons, and its own pro shop.
The Edinburgh-based Optimal Student firm are also in the mix for reviving the Granite Mile’s upper floors – with £2.7 million plans to revamp the floors above So..NYC.
The former offices at Braemar house will become 25 student flats, with plans to join the two complexes together.
What do you think about the plans to save Union Street upper floors? Let us know in our comments section below
Will Union Street saviours be successful in their high street crusade?
So with our visit over we descend back down the pitch black staircases, with our phone torches guiding the way.
Shaking hands with the group and saying goodbye, it’s clear that the panel of experts will stop at nothing until Union Street’s upper floors are brought back to life.
The different members making up the crack team all come from different backgrounds within the same industry – making it the perfect melting pot of ideas and perspectives.
So whilst there’s a long way to go, as the condition of 463 Union Street proved, the only way seems up for the Granite Mile.
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