Battle lines have been drawn over the future of Aberdeen’s famous Rubislaw Quarry as the final day to object to controversial 250 flat plans dawns.
Canadian firm Carttera wanted to build a large apartment complex along with a gym, function room, public bistro and a promenade along the north side of the quarry.
The firm had their previous application for a £68million block of almost 300 flats rejected by both the council’s planning committee and a Scottish Government reporter on appeal.
Hugh Black, who owns land at the site, has rallied the community against the proposals – insisting that they would clash with his plans for a heritage centre honouring the granite industry on the other side.
Carttera’s previous application attracted more than 300 objections and the deadline to object to the latest plan is tomorrow – with more than 250 objections already submitted.
When coming up with a revised plan for the site last year, the firm met Mr Black to discuss a possible compromise.
An idea was floated whereby the Canadians would buy a piece of land from Mr Black to link to two sites.
Now it can be revealed that e-mails seen by the Press and Journal, sent by Mr Black to a Carterra representative on November 12, said that he would like the proposals to be scaled down, a “commercial price” for his land as well as a “substantial financial commitment” to “kickstart” his heritage centre project.
It reads: “Given our strong opposition to the original plans we risk losing all credibility in the eyes of the Aberdeen public if we voice support for revised plans that are so similar.
“Serious consideration to the mass and design would attract less opposition, win more support and would also show meaningful collaboration on both sides.
“In return, we would expect to receive a commercial price for the land to the west of your client’s site and also a substantial financial commitment to ‘kickstart’ the Rubislaw Quarry heritage centre development.”
However last night Mr Black insisted he was only advising the firm on how a new development could win the hearts of Aberdonians, and claimed the firm had wanted to acquire his land for nothing on the condition they would not object to his plans.
Carttera boss Jim Tadeson said they did not buy the land due to a number of protected trees on site and knocked back the suggestion of a contribution to Mr Black’s project.
Mr Tadson said: “It is up to him if he wants to build a heritage centre – it’s on the other side of the quarry.
“Somehow this has got confused by the public, that if we build ours he can’t build his. That’s nonsense – they are two completely different sites.
“We started looking at shifting the building around onto his property and then it came up that there were so many trees on that land and we would have to cut them down. Ultimately we decided we didn’t want to invite more controversy here so we decided to stay on our property.
“I think what happened was Hugh realised we weren’t going to move and the notion that we would make a substantial contribution to his heritage centre was dropped so he has just said ‘well OK, if you don’t want to make a contribution then it’s game on again and let’s go to battle.’”
Last night Mr Black insisted he wasn’t against developing the site on principle, but opposed to the current designs as they would “affect the amenity” of his heritage centre.
He said: “They had said that they could take on that land for nothing in exchange for not objecting to any future heritage centre.
“I was simply advising them in my e-mail that for the public to support the scheme it would have to be sympathetic to the quarry and that it would also be appreciated by the public if they supported the centre.
“But they have come back with something so similar to their previous development that of course we don’t support it and I’m not surprised the public don’t either.”
Last month Mr Black revealed that the two sides, who have previously been bitter opponents, held talks about a potential compromise.
Ahead of revised designs being drawn up, Carttera boss Jim Tadeson flew over from Canada to Aberdeen to meet Mr Black and try and find a way forward.
Mr Black said he was initially hesitant to meet the firm given their previous objections to his scheme.
And the team behind the heritage centre project have also posted publicly many times online outlining opposition to the flat development.
Mr Black, however, said he changed his mind over compromising when he saw the new designs – describing them as “nearly the same” as the previous rejected plan.
He said that were Carttera to move forward with a 116 flat scheme such as that previously approved for Scotia, before they sold the site, then he would have “no objection”.
He said: “If they built the 116 flats that they had permission for on that site I would have no problem with that – but not 250.
“This is about Carterra needing to build enough flats for the scheme to make them money.
“It is a golden opportunity for Aberdeen to build something of high quality and that is sympathetic to the quarry.
“I will never support this development for these horribly designed flats as they are because they would detract from the amenity of our centre.”
Mr Tadeson recalled the talks differently, saying he had approached Mr Black to be a “good neighbour”.
He said: “I think he has become the ringleader of the objectors for his own purpose, gathering up the local community under the auspices of ‘heritage and protect Aberdeen’ but really that is for his own benefit.
“We were turned down and then turned down again on appeal on some very specific issues which we believe we have addressed through this latest application.
“I called Hugh and said ‘I don’t know you but we are neighbours here so rather than us beating our heads against a wall why don’t we get together and see if we can be good neighbours and work out something where we can get along’.
“Sadly we were soon back to square one and I’m at a bit of a loss to understand what his motivation is.
“The whole notion and premise of that meeting was ‘I won’t object to yours and you won’t object to mine’.”
Developers: Rubislaw Quarry plan honours the granite heritage
The massed blocks of flats proposed for the edge of Rubislaw Quarry have been designed to be a visual representation of the granite blocks excavated there for generations.
The vision has been controversial in some circles, having been variously compared to “lego blocks” and “a prison” by some critics.
But last night Carttera boss Jim Tadson said the architecture was apt as it had taken inspiration from the historic usage of the quarry.
It was once the key site from which Aberdeen’s famous granite was excavated.
Mr Tadson, who has travelled often to the city over the past two decades and is a member of Cruden Bay golf club, said Aberdeen was a “home from home” for him.
He said: “The quarry itself has a deep history in Aberdeen, but it has been left derelict for a long time and I know when I was first there the water was way down and it was like a big, scary-looking cavern.
“At first people said ‘that’s crazy, why would you build something on the edge of a cliff?’… but someone pointed out that Edinburgh Castle was built on top of a cliff hundreds of years ago.
“We have had engineers and experts look at it and we determined that ‘yeah there is enough land here and it would be founded on granite of course, so that’s a good solid founding and won’t topple over into the hole or anything’.
“If we take the view that there is going to be the market for it and we’re wrong it is really us who pay the price, not the local community.
“We brought in architects and gave them a clean slate, saying to them ‘what’s your vision?’ and ‘what can we do here that is interesting and reflective of the community and the quality?’.
“We wanted something that would stand the test of time and the idea was around the granite blocks that were taken from there.
“We have faced community pushback before and we scaled it back.
“People say ‘this is the same as the last one’ but I don’t really think they have taken the time to look at it.
“We have reduced the proposal about 20-25% in terms of square footage and we have dropped the height of it.”
Mr Tadson added: “That said, we have not abandoned the architecture and we don’t feel we should have to abandon the architecture.
“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and sometimes buildings come along and they’re a bit controversial but ultimately they prove to be iconic.
“I don’t think this is unique. This design is present in multiple cities.”
Hugh Black inists he still wants to build heritage centre at Rubislaw Quarry
Hugh Black has insisted he still plans to build his heritage centre honouring the Aberdeen granite industry “when the time is right”.
Mr Black and partner Sandy White bought parts of the site some time ago, promising to create a museum there.
He gained planning permission from the council but when applying to the Lands Tribunal of Scotland to vary conditions, Carttera objected.
Mr Black lost on appeal in 2018 and planning permission has since lapsed.
But last night he said: “We have had planning permission before so I think that shows a precedent has been set.
“I would like to see it happen within the next 10 years but we are not in any rush for it.
“It’s important that whatever is done at the quarry is done right and if that takes time then that takes time.
“What I remain convinced by is that the development would be of great benefit to the city and the Aberdeen economy.”
