Vacancy levels on Aberdeen’s Union Street are rising again according to property firm FG Burnett, which has flagged concerns about the city’s wider approach to regeneration.
The firm's six-monthly survey, which has tracked the Granite Mile since February 2020, shows around a quarter of units lying vacant, despite a number of new businesses opening in recent months.
The report also raises wider concerns about the impact of ongoing public realm works and what it describes as a lack of a clear long-term strategy for the city centre beyond major regeneration projects.
City centre expert Richard Noble, a director at FG Burnett, said: “There seems to be no strategy for the City Centre beyond a reliance on big ticket projects solving the challenges, Union Terrace Gardens and the development of Flint.”
However, he said: “The good work done in relation to the Union Street Empty Shop Grant Scheme should be acknowledged.”
Mr Noble carried out the latest survey on Saturday 31 January 2026. He said: “In terms of the bigger picture the latest survey shows that there are 45 voids representing 24% of the total.
"This is up from 23% in November and 21% in February 2025. The first FGB survey in February 2020 showed that the vacancy level was 18%.”
'Tortuous' works
Despite a number of new occupiers arriving since August, the survey points to the continuing impact of road and public realm works between Market Street and Bridge Street.
Mr Noble said: “The road / public realm works between Market Street and Bridge Street continue to adversely affect those occupiers on either side of the road, the pedestrian access around the works area is tortuous and dangerous to navigate.”
He added: “It has been suggested that no work is carried out weekends, one would have expected all the stops being pulled out to get these works completed.”
He said: “The adverse effect to the city centre goes well beyond the geography of the works themselves.”
Mr Noble said: “Vacancies within the works area have risen from eight when the works started, currently standing at 12 or 28%.”
He added: “Much more could have been done to counter the inconvenience of the works including from an aesthetics perspective. Better screening, better signage / wayfinding.”
How Union Street has changed since 2020
Mr Noble also said the street’s business mix has shifted over the six years since FG Burnett began tracking vacancy.
He said: “It is interesting to look at how uses have changed over the six years of the survey. There have been a significant drop in the number of banks / building societies represented on Union Street and the same can be said for fashion and footwear.”
He added: “Charity shops and bookmakers are slightly down and mobile phone / vaping shops are only slightly up, which was a surprise.”
Food and beverage operators have increased, he said, but not dramatically.
Mr Noble said: “Food & Beverage operators ( restaurants, bars, coffee shops / takeaways) are up but not by as much as you would think, there has been a lot of operator changes in that market but no significant change in overall representation.”
Last report before retirement
The February 2026 update will be Mr Noble’s final report on the survey, ahead of his retirement later this spring.
He said: “The survey is factual, many seem to appreciate the updates. It is not intended to be controversial or to 'have a go'.”
He added: “As the Ronseal saying goes 'it does exactly what it says on the tin!'”