The saga of Aberdeen’s Bon Accord Centre has entered another chapter as the centre has been pulled back from the brink in a multi-million-pound buyout.
The centre slipped into administration in November after 32 years with its doors open.
Now, the mall has been bought from the administrators by a sibling of the billionaire Issa brothers.
Historically the Bon Accord Centre was bedevilled by controversy and delays – the project went through three major public inquiries and even reached the Court of Session.
Dream or dinosaur?
That was the question then, and dinosaur seems to be the answer now, for reasons well understood.
All through the 1960s and into the 70s, as talk of hauling that run-down part of the city into the modern age came and went, shopkeepers in St Nicholas Street and George Street were desperate to upgrade their crumbling properties.
But they were blocked by the council who said the overall future of the area was under review.
The more they waited, the worse their shops got, a catastrophic case of planning blight, according to later critics.
At the first public inquiry in 1975, traders mounted a well-planned campaign to save themselves from the bulldozers.
They mustered town planners from all over Britain – including the one responsible for Birmingham’s eyesore bullring.
These experts admitted to the inquiry they had been wrong to plump for wholesale demolition of their city centres for glass and chrome malls.
They appealed to the council to redevelop instead, retaining the frontages of the traditional buildings and pedestrianizing the old streets.
It all fell on deaf ears, even after the Scottish Secretary raised the alert after that first inquiry, suggesting an attempt at preservation.
Only the frontages of the Schoolhill and Upperkirkgate buildings survived.
The principle of comprehensive development was given the go-ahead.
Area A – two acres in and around St Nicholas Street – would be first.
Developer deals
By now it was the 70s, and the cash-strapped council had to strike deals with developers.
In 1981 came the longest public inquiry in Aberdeen’s history.
It took almost three years for the case to be decided, and at the end of it, there was nothing to stop area A from going ahead.
When St Nicholas Street began to be turned to rubble in November 1982, Aberdonians were appalled, but it was way, way too late.
Meanwhile, a developer appeal was upheld and a third inquiry was ordered.
It was 1984.
Eventually, an agreement was hammered out between developers Wordie, Bredero and the council.
At last, in the summer of 1985, the Scottish Office gave the go-ahead to area B, the Bon Accord Centre.
One of the buildings to go was Loch Street’s Co-op Arcade – the first covered shopping mall in Scotland.
Once again Aberdonians watched and lamented.
It took three years to complete the £60 million complex.
Only the frontages of the Schoolhill and Upperkirkgate buildings survived.
The Queen opened the Bon Accord Centre for Christmas shoppers in 1990.
It was on this trip that the Queen said the £60 million centre was beautiful.
But she also said she was sorry about what had happened to Union Street.
She looked forward to when Union Street shops would have more customers.
The saga of Aberdeen’s biggest development since the building of Union Street had finally come to an end.
Now despite the sterling efforts of traders and management, it looked like the worst predictions of the naysayers of 60 years ago had come back to haunt the city.
Last year, administrators of the shopping mall insisted it was “business as usual” as new buyers are sought.
So let’s hope the sale means there are brighter times ahead for the iconic mall.
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