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City Council votes to demolish St Nicholas House

Aberdeen city councillors have voted to demolish St Nicholas House and put the cleared site on the market.

The successful motion was proposed by Deputy Council Leader Councillor John Stewart:

• to agree to the demolition of St Nicholas House and to move to market the vacant site;

• that the Council recognises that the decision to demolish St Nicholas House is made on the grounds that demolition will deliver significant regenerational, economic and environmental benefits to Aberdeen city centre and not on the narrow grounds of receiving the largest possible payment for the site;

• in recognition of the importance of the St Nicholas House site to the future of the city centre, to instruct officers to explore options open to the Council to ensure any development of the site is of the highest quality and is sympathetic to Provost Skene’s House and Marischal College; this should include consideration of the Council developing the site through a joint venture and the possibility of a design competition tender exercise.

Councillor Stewart said it was important for Aberdeen City Council to take the decision to clear the site to ensure the 14-storey former Council headquarters is demolished as soon as possible.

He said removing the building would bring significant economic and environmental benefits, and would deliver a major boost to the regeneration of the east end of the city centre. Councillor Stewart added that selling the site with the building still standing risked blighting the city centre with an empty structure, potentially for several years.

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