Union Street could soon sparkle in the same way it did two centuries ago – after Aberdeen council chiefs unveiled ambitious plans to blast clean every building on the iconic thoroughfare.
The local authority wants to make “the Granite Mile shine again” by working with businesses to scrub down the front of all 200 buildings.
It would be similar to the restoration work carried out to the facade of Marischal College in 2010 – and could get under way on Union Street as early as next year.
Marie Boulton, the city council’s deputy leader, revealed the plan to the Press and Journal at the end of our week-long series on the future of high streets across the north-east.
She reassured residents that they would notice “tremendous change” in the next few years as the city centre masterplan is delivered – and she even raised the prospect of banning buses and bringing in “trolley cars” for Union Street.
The local authority is planning a “deep clean” of the road and pavement surfaces, statues, street furniture and signs, which is expected to cost about £2million.
However, civic leaders want to go further and clean the fronts of all the buildings on Union Street as well.
They have identified every owner on the Granite Mile and are speaking to them about ways to restore each building to its former glory, and also bring any empty space back into use.
Mrs Boulton said: “Marischal had a deep clean, and that’s what we would like to be able to see happen on Union Street. Let the Granite Mile shine again.
“I think people will feel differently about Union Street in two or three years. You know when you clean your house, you feel better about things.”
Mrs Boulton, who leads on regeneration for the council’s Labour-led administration, hoped the work could begin next year.
“What we’re doing is that we’re programming the works. There’s certain things we have to do before we start cleaning,” she said.
“We don’t want to go and clean all these buildings and then have to start digging up the streets,” she said.
Marischal College’s facade was restored to its original glory as part of its £65million conversion into the city council’s headquarters by using a technique which fires an abrasive material at the stone.
Its previous colour can be seen in the adjoining Greyfriars John Knox Church building, which was not scrubbed.
It is understood that the council would not anticipate paying for all of the work, but could seek external funding to assist businesses, or offer a grants scheme similar to what was used to revive the Green area of the city centre.
Mrs Boulton also suggested that in the future the council could make it a condition for planning permission that owners of granite buildings have to clean them.
Dustin Macdonald, Aberdeen city centre community council chairman, welcomed the initiative last night.
“Certainly Union Street could always do with a clean-up. I would welcome anything to brighten up Union Street,” he said.
“But also building owners and property owners need to take responsibility and make their buildings fit for purpose.
“Marischal College looks almost brand new and it would be nice to see sparkling and clean granite on Union Street too.”
Dominic Fairlie, chairman of Aberdeen Civic Society, said: “I think anything that makes Union Street look better would be worth doing.
“I suppose there is a little bit of a discussion about whether or not scrubbing buildings is good for the buildings – some people don’t think it is.
“I think they did a pretty good job on Marischal College.”
Mrs Boulton, an Independent councillor, defended the local authority’s work to revive the city centre following critical comments from several leading figures in the Press and Journal this week.
“The council has never said that there are not things to be done in the city, we’ve acknowledged that, but what we didn’t want was piecemeal developments that didn’t join up with the total picture,” she said.
“What we’ve done is we went through a very comprehensive exercise with the masterplan, and in that we took the public with us, we took the private sector. We all love Aberdeen and we all want to make it better.”
One of the key sections in the masterplan, which was approved by councillors unanimously in June, was a controversial plan to pedestrianise Union Street between Bridge Street and the Castlegate.
Mrs Boulton said: “This is not about alienating the car user. This is about accommodating the car user so they can still get into the city centre, but so that we have areas that are pedestrian zones.
“We’re also looking at public transport in the city centre. You know, let’s be brave, let’s be bold. Should we have buses coming down Union Street? Should we do something really radical like having trolley buses coming up and down and dropping people off? They do it San Francisco, they do it in Amsterdam.”