John Curran

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"The Vision Zone"

John Curran - Consultant, McGrigors

Disclaimers

The views expressed herein are my own and in no way should be taken to represent or reflect the views of my employers, McGrigors LLP, or any of the members thereof.

Given that your brief stresses the “independent” element of the vision requested, I concluded that I should not be constrained by what currently appears in development plans, ACSEF newsletters or, indeed, City Centre development frameworks. I have, however, read these documents.

While such an approach goes very much against my personal grain, I have tried not to concern myself with funding, whether via central or local  government , TIFs or, indeed, private largesse. As you say, this is about vision, but I couldn’t resist a wee stab at funding solutions in my City Centre section below.

Priorities

While accepting the importance of a vibrant and attractive City Centre, there are, to my mind, more important challenges which should be above “City Centre Visions” in the priority list and, indeed, you touch upon some of these in your brief, e.g. transportation, a strong economy and sustainable prosperity.

An enlarged airport which doesn’t close at  the drop of a bad weather report, a high-speed rail link from London which proceeds to Inverness via Aberdeen, the AWPR and new Dee and Don crossings would all figure above an enhanced City Centre in my personal priority list for the self proclaimed Energy Capital of the Western Hemisphere.

To my mind, there remains a gross misconception which goes something along the lines of: “Aberdeen is cocooned in its own oil & gas bubble and the credit crunch has simply passed the City by, almost unnoticed”. Aye right!  Ask the construction/building industries, ask the banks and financial institutions. Indeed, ask Subocean. Sustainable (and deliverable) economic development should be at the top of everyone’s priority list, and I must stress the word “deliverable”.

City Centre

You have actually stolen my thunder on this in your Aberdeen example of genius loci  i.e “the granite City, exhibited in the distinctive architecture of the Cityscape”.  What is the best and most widely recognised example of this “distinctive architecture”? My answer would be Marischal College, and there you have the seeds of my vision. To my mind what is currently going on in that area represents a unique opportunity for the City.

In my view, the Aberdeen City Council/University tie up on Marischal is a match made in heaven, securing, as it does, the future of Aberdeen’s most-renowned architectural feature, while also providing a sensible and cost-effective solution to the council’s space requirements. Combine this with the civic square redevelopment of the St Nicholas House site, bludgeon the Church Of Scotland into submission re- the incorporation of Greyfriars Church into the concept, provide pedestrian-only links to an improved Castlegate area and ban cars from Golden Square, Bon-accord Square and their environs and one is getting back to what I imagine Aberdeen used to be like i.e pre-1947 before the first Town & Country Planning Act. “Toon and Goon….and Kirk” It does have a certain ring to it.

“What of Union Street and Union Terrace Gardens (UTG)?”, I hear you ask. Edinburgh is held up as something we should be aiming for. Have you seen Princes Street and Princes Street Gardens lately? Union Street and UTG suddenly don’t seem so bad. Edinburgh = the Castle and I assure you, if planning had been in force at the time, it would never have received consent. Marischal College, properly marketed, is our Castle and UTG is our Princes Street Gardens. Union Street will take care of itself properly policed which, by the way, is my solution to Mr Koot’s much publicised problems.

There exists an unholy fixation on UTG to my mind. I suggest that the emphasis should lie elsewhere as I have suggested. I also believe that my vision is more deliverable given that the economic heart of that area is, or will be, established. That, surely, must aid the funding path, whether via TIFs, a variant thereof or otherwise. I have no idea what the economic heart of UTG will be. In any event, it should not be beyond the collective Aberdeen wit to connect into my idea of the civic square area combined with an upgrade of existing UTG facilities.

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