Plans to turn a seven-storey hotel into student accommodation have been trashed over concerns the cramped conditions could make young people miserable.
Aberdeen City Council’s planning committee this morning voted unanimously against proposals for the Hilton Garden Inn on St Andrew Street.
Developers Optimal Student wanted to turn it into accommodation in the city centre for as many as 105 occupants.
But councillors decided the digs would not offer students enough room, or sufficient opportunity to socialise and make friends.
Aberdeen Hilton Garden Inn plans come under the microscope
Council planning officer Aoife Murphy told members the development would “bring more footfall into the area” while urging them to approve the proposal.
But 39 neigbours had written to the local authority calling for the project to be knocked back.
Many objected to sharing a communal courtyard with the students, saying the spot could become blighted by people drinking and taking drugs.
‘We want students to have an excellent experience’
However, the courtyard was not the main concern shared by most elected representatives today.
George Street councillor Sandra Macdonald raised a string of further concerns during the meeting.
The lack of communal space for students to get to know one another came under criticism, along with the size of the rooms.
She said: “My main concern is student welfare.
“Students come to university not just to improve their minds but also to have that social interaction as they are growing up.
“In Aberdeen we want students to come here and have an excellent experience.
“The layout shows a lack of amenity for communal living, doing cooking and that sort of thing.”
Documents submitted by architects offer an idea of the size of the rooms –
Small rooms are ‘effectively apartments’
Fellow George Street councillor Michael Hutchison said: “Some of these rooms are as little as 26m squared – with the bedroom, bathroom and kitchen in that space.
“That’s effectively an apartment on its own.
“And it doesn’t have the social communal spaces you would usually have.
“It’s an insufficient space for someone to live in, this isn’t the sort of living students should be expecting.”
Committee convener Marie Boulton “has three students of her own”.
And said even the idea of creating more city centre footfall wasn’t enough for her to back the plans.
She added: “During Covid there have been times where people had to spend more time in their own properties, and we need to make sure students have adequate space.”
All nine members of the planning committee voted against the plans.
You can read our previous report on residents’ objections to the Aberdeen Hilton Garden Inn proposal here.