Watching your town centre and community change shape day-by-day doesn’t happen often, but that’s exactly what is happening right now in Elgin.
It’s quite something to watch the layers of history being peeled back and revealing long-lost parts of local heritage.
When I’ve been walking to work along South Street I might be able to see right into the back of what has been an abandoned building one day, or an old sign from a long-lost business.
When I look a different direction I’ve seen paint on the walls from inside Junners or, if I’ve got my good glasses on, parts of the former Jailhouse nightclub.
Take the same trip a few days later and the entire structure has been taken down.
That entire corner of South Street is currently being stripped back to be rebuilt with more retail units, a UHI Moray campus and housing.
Right now, work is taking place that will change the shape of our town centre for generations to come.
It’s exciting. You can tell from the number of people I pass who have picked up demolition watching as a spectator sport.
Can we replicate South Street project elsewhere in Elgin?
It isn’t just in Elgin the South Street demolition project is turning heads though.
During the last couple of months the work has attracted national attention with hopes it could become a template for other towns.
I’m pretty parochial when it comes to Elgin though because, frankly, it’s worth it.
So let’s forget about how we could be setting examples for Dumfries, Falkirk and Dunbar and look at what we have on our own doorstep.
South Street is all about taking a largely vacant corner of our town centre and reimagining it as a multi-use area to drive footfall into there and the surrounding streets.
Sound familiar? We could be saying the same thing in a few years about the St Giles Centre and the largely sealed-off multi-storey car park.
It’s a huge site, probably about double the size of what is going on at South Street at the moment.
So, what do we do with it?
Now is the perfect time to get creative with our hometown. Let’s not be beholden to the past of only considering it as a shopping centre.
Let’s really think about what unlocked potential this building could have. Actually, let’s look at the land and imagine what we would like to see in our town centre.
Did I think John Lewis in Aberdeen could become a go-kart track? Certainly not.
Could a concept like the Victorian Market in Inverness be replicated here? I don’t know.
Or perhaps it could be a venue to bring community groups, start-up retailers, affordable flats and some health appointments under one roof? No idea.
How about a plush hotel called the Dandy Lie-In? Alright, I’m being silly now.
My favourite things about Elgin town centre
The beauty of Elgin though is that we don’t need to reimagine our whole town centre, there’s already so much to love.
This week I was reminded of everything good about our High Street and what we need to protect most.
My wife and I took our one-year-old daughter to Begg Shoes for her first pair of shoes, plus an upgrade on the battered old pair I persist in wearing.
She wore hers out of the shop, like I remember doing when I was a kid and immediately started strutting about like she owned the High Street.
I loved watching her, and I instantly thought about how fortunate we were to have this wonderful pedestrianised town centre where I could let her roam about for a bit without having to worry (too much) about traffic.
I know it’s not to everyone’s taste, I know some hark back to the 1990s when you could park your car for free there all day.
However, empty cars don’t buy anything, shoppers do.
Yes, I know, a lot of the shoppers will have to drive to get there.
But what I think is more important is giving them a safe, welcoming, clean High Street when they get there. And if that comes at the cost of £2 for a car park, then I think that’s a small price to pay.
Elgin High Street is perfect for events, outdoor markets or just spending a slow afternoon in the sun.
We’re fortunate we don’t need to reinvent the whole town centre, just little parts of it.
Read more from Elgin
- Changes for Elgin’s £20 million fund: This is what it means for these 5 ambitious projects
- Elgin High Street pedestrianisation: The death of the town centre or the beginning of a shining new era?
- Where will the 1,600 homes go? When will new primary school open? Big questions answered about the Findrassie housing development
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