It’s encouraging to read about a developer’s plans to convert a former Altens office block, Quattro House, into flats. This is a sensible and sustainable alternative to demolition and construction — the amount of energy used in producing cement is a significant contributor to global carbon dioxide emissions.
Let’s hope this approach can be extended to other vacant office blocks in Aberdeen, such as the former Shell HQ in Tullos. Perhaps our council might want to look at this approach to provide such much-needed social housing?
Jonathan Mitchell.
A Fergie finish
The photo in Memories — Flashback brought back many happy memories.
Graham Milne and myself organised a sponsored 24-hour non-stop run around Linksfield track in aid of school funds for a minibus. We started at noon on the Friday and finished 24 hours later.
We arranged the pupils and teachers to run in one-hour blocks and made sure that the baton being carried was on the move for the full 24 hours. As you can imagine, during the night, it was hard going but we managed to keep running with the help of some senior pupils and some fit staff members.
When we eventually finished, we were fortunate enough to acquire the services of Alex Ferguson (Sir) who was at the finishing line to flag in the final group of runners. This was really appreciated because Aberdeen were playing at home to Celtic only three hours later!
At the end of the run, we calculated that we had actually run the distance from Aberdeen to Newcastle — an amazing achievement.
One of the teachers, Ian Williamson, physics, stayed up all night and assisted in the run. He is the only person I know who managed to fall asleep at an Aberdeen verses Celtic game — at least he had an excuse!
Steve Cassells, Hopetoun Grange, Bucksburn, Aberdeen.