The “Queen of Shops” has waded into the ongoing Marischal Square row, branding Aberdeen City Council’s spending on the project “madness”.
Retail expert Mary Portas, famed for her Queen of Shops and Secret Shopper television programmes, made her feelings known online by pointing to the state of granite buildings on Union Street.
Writing on social media site Twitter to her 248,000 followers she wrote of the £107million Broad Street scheme: “Beautiful granite stone buildings on Union street being left while money pumped into a new build by @AberdeenCouncil. Madness.”
The Muse and Aviva project with the council has been at centre of a storm of controversy since it was announced, with protesters continually questioning the financial handling of the deal.
The complex arrangement arose when the authority sold the former St Nicholas House site to Aviva for £10million.
It will lease Marischal Square for £5million per year for 35 years when it is completed in 2017. It can then buy the site back for £1.
There are around 85 workers currently working at the Broad Street site as the underground car park, foundations and lift shafts start to take shape.
Lorna McHattie of the Reject Marischal Square group is calling for a complete halt to the project, and last night welcomed Ms Portas’s comments.
She said: “I totally welcome her intervention and it’s great to see our campaign is gaining support from outside Aberdeen.
“The buildings are beginning to be covered with weeds and we really need to look after our buildings instead of investing all this money into an unpopular project.”
But council finance convener Willie Young hit back at critics and said the council’s masterplan was looking at how to improve the city centre.
He said: “I will write to Ms Portas to point out the things that we are doing for the city in the masterplan.
“I welcome constructive criticism and I’d like to show her that this is something the council have looked into.
“(The masterplan) will be a huge thing for the city and this seems like a bit of a blanket statement from Mary.”
Ms Portas declined to comment further last night.