Rebecca Buchan: Extending Aberdeen regeneration plans into West End is a no-brainer

I am a creature of habit, there’s no other term for it.

If I find a pair of shoes or jeans that I love, I will buy multiple pairs. I have had three places of employment during my entire adult life. And, in my 38 years, I have lived in five homes – three of those being student accommodation.

Almost 20 years ago now, I started flat-hunting for a place of my own.

I would describe the process as similar to looking for a life partner. There’s a checklist, but instead of six foot five, blue eyes, working in finance and perhaps a trust fund, it’s more like a south-facing garden, back lane access, within walking distance of a pub…

I jest (slightly), but I will never forget the feeling of finding “the one”.

Having been disappointed by viewing after viewing, I held little hope for the flat I was about to see, which needed a significant amount of TLC.

It had been a pretty bad winter, and snow was covering the city. As I drove down the narrow, one-way road that hadn’t seen a gritter, probably ever, I should have been thinking: “No, this is not the one for me.”

But, the second I turned onto my street and saw the beautiful granite glisten against the white blanket on the pavement, I fell head over heels.

Fast forward to now, and I’m still living there, in Aberdeen’s West End. Quite honestly, there is nowhere else I would rather be.

But things have changed a bit since that fateful day. For a start, Dizzy’s isn’t around anymore, and I need to venture a tad further for that glass of wine on a Friday night.

In recent weeks, the nicer weather has had me out pounding the streets most evenings, and I have been struck again – just as I was when I first came to view my flat – by the beauty of the area. The cherry blossoms are in full bloom, the architecture is as stunning now as it always has been, and there is real potential to create a thriving mini-community.

Empty buildings, once housing oil and gas firms, line some of our grandest streets, like Rubislaw Terrace and Carden Place, and I wonder what is actively being done to change that.

There is no doubt that the days of old are well in the past, but where energy firms once called home, a new type of business could thrive.

Hairdressers, beauticians, cafes, bars and restaurants would likely pick up trade from the hugely popular residential area. Even a tattoo parlour recently took up residence in an unwanted office space.

And, with more of these empty properties being marketed as having potential to be turned into residential homes, the immediate population is only set to soar.

You just need to look at the success of Number 10, Amuse and The Albyn to see there’s a demand. But there needs to be an incentive to open up new ventures.

Do business rates need a rethink?

While the city centre is on course for what is hoped will be a bit of a glow-up, I would argue we should be extending our plans for regeneration past the end of Union Street. After all, both areas flow seamlessly into one another.

As I understand it, the reintroduction of business rates to listed properties has not helped matters.

Brought in as a means to help developers take on listed buildings, the previous rates relief was intended to allow owners who had limited renovation options but were still burdened with statutory obligations to maintain their properties. The council claimed it should be seen as an incentive to fill vacant units, rather than allowing them to languish empty.

However, experts believed a sudden reduction in the business rates relief would make ownership and redevelopment of some of our most historic buildings unattractive and unviable, leading to abandonment and further disrepair.

If I was house-hunting again, I have no doubt I would fall in love with the area once more

Rates were raised more than a year ago now, and – as far as I can see – empty listed buildings are not filling up any quicker than they were before. Has the time come to rethink this strategy, in order to encourage a bit of a West End regeneration?

Time to restore some sparkle

It’s an area that I’m proud to call home. I hope others will feel the same in the future, as many of those villas once filled by oil firms for decades are returned to their previous use.

A lot may have changed in the years since I moved here, but if I was house-hunting again, I have no doubt I would fall in love with the area once more.

But wouldn’t it be great if some entrepreneurial types took advantage of a growing population and seized the chance to restore some of that sparkle to the area?

Rebecca Buchan is deputy head of news and sport for The Press and Journal and Evening Express