From knocking down shopping centres to creating a rival to Edinburgh’s Johnnie Walker “whisky experience”, the list of ideas from a recent summit on Union Street’s future is as diverse as it is vast.
The crunch brainstorming session took place last month, amid increasingly grim warnings about the future of the Granite Mile.
Since the Douglas Hotel gathering, some of Aberdeen’s top business brains have been forming a short (or not so short) list of ideas to be explored.
The “key themes” range from the big to the small, and it remains to be seen what will be driven forward in the race to save Union Street.
Here we have collated all 51 ideas listed by Aberdeen Inspired, and grouped into different themes.
Better pour yourself a cup of tea…
Sprucing up the city centre
- Many of the ideas revolve around making Union Street a nicer place to visit, with a “general tidy-up” involving weeds being removed, windows and doors repainted and “tired granite facades” being scrubbed
- There’s also a desire to “aesthetically improve” the Back Wynd Steps down to the Green with a deep clean, and perhaps a living wall and fairy lights
- Improved signage and more lighting of key buildings is being considered.
- And could “more street furniture and more café culture” help?
- “Be more proactive” – a task force could find out who owns which properties and what their plans are for their properties.
Getting more people to live there
Our next round of ideas all place belief in the idea that increased residential buildings could be key to recovery…
- Businesses want to “encourage/facilitate more residential development on Union Street”.
- And to help with this, could firms be enticed by not having to pay back loans for upgrading buildings on Union Street?
- Bring upper floors into use for city centre living, force landlords to act on improvements.
- Attracting students back into city centre with affordable housing, free transport, re-opening student unions and creating a “student hub”.
- A “City Studio” venue to get students back into the city centre
- There are calls to make the planning process more streamlined with pre-defined permitted developer rights for Union Street.
- Could the council reconsider developer contributions and shorten the timeline for decisions on city centre applications?
- Incentives for Union Street occupiers – create a “simplified planning zone”
- Access to cheaper debt for Union Street occupiers
- Making it easier to set up on or move into Union Street – with funding, grant applications, occasional licences for venues, change of use and permitted development rights all more accessible
Luring more business to city centre
But what could be done to encourage more firms onto Union Street? These suggestions could all help answer that question.
- Establish a business reward/incentive scheme for businesses or individuals who introduce a company who takes a unit in Union Street
- Develop a template or set of common standards for pop-up leases so that incoming start-up businesses don’t need to pay extensive legal fees
- A short-term business rates discount could be applied to each occupied property that complies or considers employing a team of people to clean windows, doors and frontages
- A “joined-up strategy” to reduce the number of vacant units could be considered
- More independent retailers – pop-up shops, more experiential retail, and “creative incubators” could all breathe new life into Union Street
- Filling empty units with local entrepreneurs and “creatives”, charities and arts and crafts
- Create more areas like Shiprow, while encouraging the reinvigorated lane itself to flourish
Zones plan to divide Union Street
One of the most ambitious ideas is separating Union Street into separate “zones”… And it’s one of the areas Aberdeen Inspired has promised to focus on.
- This could mean establishing a healthcare zone or district – a “golden thread” of health, wellbeing and leisure activities while attracting the NHS into the city.
- Alongside this, there would be a focus on the areas dubbed the west end, Union Street west, Union Street central and Union Street east. These areas could then be “focused on individually”.
Spread the word!
Business leaders and traders are more determined than ever to market Union Street as a destination.
- This could mean a “single source” for “what’s on in your city centre” advice, with technology embraced. This is inspired by similar schemes in places such as Winchester in Hampshire. Click here for an example.
- A civic pride marketing campaign could be launched too.
Transport changes to help Union Street?
Could making it easier to get about make a difference? These ideas focus on that theme.
- Improve transport, movement and connectivity – with “greener transport” a priority
- Introduce rickshaws
- Introduce a hop on/hop off bus along the Granite Mile
- “Don’t look at Union Street in isolation” – it should be linked to Teca and other locations so that people can easily reach it from elsewhere
- Reduce parking charges – are they “too expensive and a deterrent to coming into town”?
- Mobile food deliveries using Union Street “need to be minimised”. Participating retailers could have to hand over food to couriers from the likes of Deliveroo via “service doorways” typically at the rear of properties.
This would mean these couriers have to use streets running parallel to Union Street as their “main thoroughfare”… Alongside this there could be “established areas” where the drivers can be stationed.
What about the council?
There was a suggestion at the summit that political battles have waylaid the progress of Union Street. These two suggestions could resolve that.
- The first is simply a plea for councillors to take the “politics” out of debates on the Aberdeen City Centre and Beach Masterplan.
- The second is on the “need for leadership” – with the notion of appointing a “city czar” or city centre manager to steer recovery efforts.
What about shopping centres?
- One radical idea is “acquiring and demolishing/transforming the Trinity Centre”. The space could be used for a “new urban park with housing”. This could boost connections between Union Square and Union Street, with affected shops displaced onto the Granite Mile.
- The same thing goes for the Bon Accord Centre. This could open up George Street and link it to Union Street/the city centre
- But while they’re left standing, there’s the concept of using our shopping centres for farmers’ markets
What about safety?
Safety fears are often raised by residents as a reason for giving the city centre a wide berth.
- “Make Union Street safer” – tackle anti-social behaviour and begging
- More police presence on Union Street could also make a difference
More visitors from near and far!
The summit heard a number of ideas on how to draw more people to Union Street – with even supernatural forces mooted.
- More “city tours” could make a difference – with special walks around “haunted” areas, and a “culture” tour to be considered.
- The need a major city attraction, “like a decommissioned oil rig” was also raised.
- Attracting and creating “smaller and/or quirkier venues” to accommodate more diverse events.
- Events to be screened in the city centre such as Union Terrace Gardens to attract people in.
- “Explore a whisky experience” – encourage distillers to open up something in Union Street similar to the Johnnie Walker Experience in Edinburgh. This is an idea our columnist Scott Begbie had for Norco House…
Anything else?
Some ideas are harder to categorise… They include:
- More net-zero infrastructure – and “the need to demonstrate our net-zero. ambitions”
- Discourage working from home to drive footfall to at least pre-Covid levels
- The need for “more data and insights” into why retailers won’t come, what’s the situation with parking, and “myths” that deter businesses. Capturing data on “what the barriers are” so they can be overcome
- Set up a community fund – a “creative crowd-funder” to raise money for short-term and medium-term solutions
- A “regional investment fund” to identify firms with “high growth potential” and attract them onto Union Street
- Engaging the wider community, not just businesses – with efforts to promote the City Centre Community Council
- City centre work permits could be prioritised
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