A property firm has snapped-up 64 acres of Aberdeenshire farmland – and unveiled plans to invest £80million in a business, retail and leisure complex.
Ashfield Land has bought the ground at Blackdog from Colin Tawse for an undisclosed sum.
And the firm now wants to deliver up to 400,000sq ft of business park and about 200,000sq ft of retail and leisure facilities on the site next to the main A90 Aberdeen-Fraserburgh road.
Ashfield’s own plans are part of a much larger scheme – also involving north-east housebuilder Kirkwood Homes – to transform an area in the Energetica development corridor.
Councillors backed the masterplan for Blackdog, just outside the Aberdeen city boundary, more than two years ago, when Mr Tawse unveiled his blueprint for 600 new homes as well as a huge food market, school and park and ride facility.
His initial proposals for the land, outlining a mixture of two and three-bedroom flats and terraced, semi-detached and detached properties, were unanimously approved on condition that a travellers’ site was included in the overall development.
Mr Tawse was granted permission to build the first 48 homes and a retail unit on land near Hareburn Road at Blackdog last year.
More detailed plans for the overall scheme lodged in November also included conference facilities and a play barn.
The proposed park and ride facility would allow commuters travelling south to Aberdeen to drop off their cars at Blackdog before completing their journeys.
Ashfield is already working on projects elsewhere in Scotland and the UK.
As well as being in the Energetica corridor – a 30-mile zone between Aberdeen and Peterhead being promoted as a base for businesses and research institutions with links to the energy industry – the Blackdog site is close to the junction between the A90 and the Aberdeen bypass.
Ashfield Land director, Steven McGarva, said: “Ashfield is thrilled to have secured the site and be working on this development.
“We look forward to working in partnership with Kirkwood, the local authority and other stakeholders to deliver a high quality lifestyle, leisure and, ultimately, a global business location in Aberdeenshire within Europe’s largest offshore oil and gas cluster.
“Scotland is an area of key strategic importance for Ashfield and this is one of several major developments we are currently working on.”
The revised masterplan for the wider scheme is currently being developed in partnership with Kirkwood Homes, which will take forward the site earmarked for 600 homes.
A “proposal of application” notice has been issued and a full planning application is expected in early 2016.