The trailblazing work of the expert task force striving to bring new life back to Union Street’s empty and under-used upper floors has been showcased at a prestigious national conference in London.
And the commitment of the Upper Floors Project to work as Team Aberdeen and do the “tough stuff” to help regenerate the heart of the Granite City in an innovative and collaborative way was well-received by key placemakers from across the UK. Many of them are now looking to the Granite City as providing a possible route map for future success.
Members of the Upper Floors Project technical panel outlined the powerful partnership work bringing together council specialists in planning and building standards with architects, developers and commercial letting agents to find new and innovative uses for unused or under-used premises above the ground floor level of the Granite Mile.
They made their presentation yesterday (Thursday, Feb 26) at the Place Management Conference of the UK-wide Association of Town and City Management, attended by key movers and shakers from across the country, to explore innovative ways to regenerate the towns and cities across the UK.
The work of the Upper Floors Project, driven by Aberdeen Inspired with support from Aberdeen City Council and the wider city centre business community and stakeholders, is being hailed as a potential exemplar for other cities and towns to follow.
Technical panel members taking part in a presentation and discussion on the Upper Floors project at the conference were Ross Grant, project manager with Aberdeen Inspired, Dr Sepideh Hajisoltani of Aberdeen City Council and Shona Boyd, senior surveyor with Graham + Sibbald.
Ross said: “My key messaging was that hard-pressed city centre businesses need a Team Aberdeen approach to take on some of the tough stuff – the difficult things we need to do in the relentless drive to regenerate Aberdeen city centre and Union Street in particular.
“Long empty and underused upper floor space is detrimental to the viability of our city centre – as it is in other city centres - and we need to find place-led solutions to respond to that challenge.
“Key to that is bringing together experts and specialists from the different fields that can make a real difference – city planners, building standards, architects, developers and commercial letting agents – to find new and innovative uses for upper floors and break down any barriers that might hinder that progress.
“This is a long mission and needs a strategic and methodical approach as we go. But our objective is clear – raise this issue up the agenda, build a narrative that Aberdeen will roll out the red carpet to those who want to bring fresh life to our city centre and, ultimately, make things better for everyone.”
Ross said the presentation and discussion had generated a lot of interest and discussion – as well as interest from other placemaking experts from cities across the nation.
“There were certainly some searching questions asked of the panel which showed just how interested other experts and specialist are in the work of the Upper Floors Project as well as many appreciative comments and positive feedback,” said Ross.
“There were certainly some searching questions asked of the panel which showed just how interested other experts and specialist are in the work of the Upper Floors Project as well as many appreciative comments and positive feedback,” said Ross, adding he had extended an open invite to anyone who wanted to visit Aberdeen to see the work of the panel first-hand.