Aberdonians were ‘poised’ with their cameras yesterday as part of a £107million Marischal Square development was opened to the public to showcase the new sculpture by Falkirk Kelpies creator Andy Scott.
Mr Scott was commissioned to make the giant steel leopard – a tribute to the city’s coat of arms – as the centrepiece scheme.
Due to the creature’s stance and the message of Scotland being on the edge of change, the world-renowned artist named his work Poised as he unveiled it officially last week.
And yesterday members of the public got their first chance to see the 16ft tall cat, which sits atop a massive 32ft pole.
The sculpture will now be open to the public from 8.00 am until 6.00 pm each day.
The council hope it will attract more tourists to the city and more businesses to Marischal Square, which is being underwritten by the taxpayer.
A steady stream of onlookers came along to admire the work and take pictures – some from as far afield as Australia.
And everyone appeared to be positive about the sculpture.
But city centre masterplan spokeswoman Marie Boulton said only two units remained to be let in the bottom floor of Marischal Square and she was confident of the success of the multimillion pound venture.
She said: “There are people who go on trails to see sculptures just by Andy Scott so I think it will definitely bring in visitors.
“Of course there will always be people who don’t like Marischal Square but I think people are now beginning to see the shape of what we were speaking about right at the start of the project.
“Now that Poised is up and Broad Street is speeding ahead, I think we will be inundated with offers for the remaining places.”