A Brutalist style 1970s office block in Aberdeen city goes to auction next week – with a guide price that’s half the £1 million it sold for two years ago.
This time round, Ruby House, just off Silver Street, is being offered up with planning permission to convert it from offices into 59 residential flats.
Once used as government offices and as the local home of the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), the L-shaped building is being sold with a guide price of £500,000.
Mandale Homes submitted a successful planning application to Aberdeen City Council in 2022.
At the time, its Architects ELG Planning quoted the council’s masterplan ambitions for the city centre in seeking approval – with the desire to create “good quality housing” in the area.
Ruby House bought at auction for £1 million
They added that the proposal will “encourage the promotion of Aberdeen city centre as an energetic place and assist in strengthening the city centre economy”.
The four-storey, 40,628 sq ft building on Ruby Lane has onsite parking for 36 vehicles.
It is understood Ruby House’s current owner is London-based and purchased the property for close to £1m.
The office block was built in 1979, when the oil boom was reshaping Aberdeen’s economy.
Acuitus consultant Mhairi Archibald said there had been good interest in the Ruby House auction already.
“People know that when pricing is sensible auction is such a great way to do business,” she added.
£350k guide price for Royfold House
Also to be live streamed for auction on December 12 is the former KPMG office at Royfold House at Hill of Rubislaw, in Aberdeen’s West End.
With a guide price of £350,000, the substantial office building is over 23,000 sq ft, with 100 car parking spaces and a secure entry barrier.
It has comfort cooling and raised floors and nearby occupiers include Chevron and Regus, with a Pure Gym nearby.
Mhairhi says there is a variety of potential uses from the space, including leisure and retail.
“It’s fantastic office space,” she added. “Its location is great and it’s surrounded by residential, so there’s good scope for an amenity of some kind.
“It was a serviced office until very recently and the owners are coming out of Aberdeen in terms of their holdings.”
Meanwhile, she said Acuitus had received good interest in the listing locally.
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