Developers behind the Marischal Square project to transform the area around one of Aberdeen’s most famous landmarks claim lessons have been learned from the Union Terrace Gardens debacle.
Steve Turner, regional manager for Muse Developments Ltd, made the comments as a public consultation into the £100million overhaul of the land surrounding Marischal College began yesterday.
The project will aim to showcase the new council headquarters and Provost Skene’s House to maximum effect, while drawing people into a new public square flanked by a hotel, offices and shops.
Pedestrianisation of Broad Street is also being considered.
Mr Turner said the row over Union Terrace Gardens had focused the developers on how to proceed with creating the best plan for the city.
He said: “I think it alerted us to the things that we need to do right and that is listening to people and making sure that whatever we do here can be delivered from a financial, planning and design point of view.
“Its got to be something that works from all of these different angles.”
The original Muse vision for Marischal Square featured a series of multi-storey glass-fronted office buildings.
The concept designs divided public opinion, with some architectural experts expressing concerns that “mistakes” of the past were in danger of being repeated.
Mr Turner said the process had now moved on from those designs, which were used, along with a business case, to clinch a deal with Aberdeen City Council.
He stressed that the first workable designs could only be completed after public opinion had helped to shape the new look of the area. He said: “This consultation is for us the key point in the next stage of the scheme.
“We have got to the point we’re on board with the council and we have put behind us all the images that have come out in the past few months. “We are definitely winding those images back.”
However, Mr Turner stressed the development would be a modern one and that mimicking the style of the old university building, which was built in the early 1800s, would not be on the agenda.
He said: “This is going to be grade A development with high levels of sustainability and technological specification.
“It will be a modern scheme.
“What it won’t be is a pastiche of Marischal College. You are never going to build something like that again. We will complement, but not detract from, what is already there.”
To make way for Marischal Square, Aberdeen City Council is entering into a long-term agreement with Muse, backed by insurer and pensions firm Aviva. The deal was understood to include a £10million upfront payment for the St Nicholas House site.
The authority will then pay £5million a year to lease the development from Muse for 35 years, effectively sub-letting units and retaining rental income above that £5million figure.