A busy Aberdeen road will be closed for more than four months as work on a major £1 billion housing development gets underway.
Construction of the first stage of the 3,000-home Stewart Milne project at Countesswells is due to start this month now that planning permission in principle has been agreed by Aberdeen City Council.
The scheme includes 750 affordable properties, and also feature the capacity for leisure and healthcare facilities, schools, parks and room for small to medium-sized businesses.
However, as work commences, a number of road closures have been announced which could cause major disruption for many commuters.
From August 19 to December 16, the Kingswells Roundabout to Cults road will be closed to all motorists except for access between the Kingswells roundabout and the route’s junction with Blacktop Road.
And Countesswells Road will be closed between its junction with Hazledene Road and the Kirk Brae junction from May 3 to July 8.
However, Jim Fitzsimons, the project director of the development said the closures were necessary due to how cut-off the Countesswells site is from vital utilities.
He added: “The site at Countesswells is sitting all on its own, which in some respects is fabulous because it’s surrounded by fabulous environment, but the downside is that it basically has no services at all.
“So we need to bring in all the services like gas and water, and at the same time take in power and drainage, so it’s inevitable that we’ll have to close some of these roads in the short term.
“It’s going to be a small new town and the total community will be about 7,000 people.
We’ve got a town centre which will have the usual shops, a supermarket, and we’re looking to integrate schools and a new health centre.
“We’re looking at employment uses and at what kind of office facilities we can have, but the issue with Countesswells is that Aberdeen is very well served in terms of business parks, and we’ve got Prime 4 just across the road.
“So we’re going to be offering support for more local services, and smaller companies that want to be within a community.”