Looking back at archive photos of November days in Aberdeen

Our look back at November over the years brings back memories of Billy Connolly performing in Aberdeen, the construction of the Seaton housing scheme – and a cat’s 21st birthday.

In November 1974, Regent Court, the first multi-storey block at the new Seaton development was ready for occupation.

It came on the crest of a wave of high-rise building in Aberdeen over a 13-year period.

1973: Working across long strips, bulldozers and other earth-moving machinery were hard at work levelling the huge 50-acre Seaton tip prior to landscaping. Image: DC Thomson

The city council’s “spectacular burst” of skyscraper construction ahead of local government reorganisation was to take the city’s tower block total to at least 55.

1974 saw a record on tower block construction in the city, not because it was planned that way, but due to delays with unforeseen snags in developments.

Seaton skyscrapers joined ‘grinning teeth’ on Aberdeen skyline

The largest planned concentration of multi-storey housing in Aberdeen was at Seaton, stretching from the Bridge of Don, along the fringe of King’s Links and Regent Walk on the south.

The huge scheme was classified from the beginning as the Seaton Housing Development Sections A, B, C and D, and included low-rise blocks.

1984: Thumper was Seaton pre-school day centre’s pet, who was beloved and spoiled by the youngsters who took care of her. Image: DC Thomson

But there was a delay in the completion of the taller towers due to a significant change in the nature of material used to reinforce foundations.

The addition of the Seaton skyscrapers were just the latest to join the “grinning teeth” on the skyline of Aberdeen. But the tide had begun to turn on tower blocks.

High-rises found to cause social isolation for young families

Regent Court was to be used as an experiment reflecting a change in housing policy in the allocation of such flats.

It was felt that previous high-rise schemes, like those in Tillydrone, were unsuitable for bringing up young children.

1976: This part of the Seaton scheme at King Street was designed by Aberdeen City District architects and built by the locally-owned Aberglen Construction Ltd. It was considered one of the most attractive in the city. Image: DC Thomson

Nursery children in other parts of Aberdeen who stayed in high-rises were found to be suffering an “an unusually isolated infancy”.

Mothers could not safely let them out to play several floors below so far from their supervision.

But in 1976, as the Seaton scheme finally neared completion, a strong community spirit had already been fostered through Seaton School and the youth clubs that met there.