Aberdeen in sunshine, shock horror

Despite the planning mistakes of the last half-century (severe Corb-influenced tower blocks, ugly retail developments and all those other essential ingredients that frequently make British post-war architecture so “special”) Aberdeen retains a cityscape that I believe is one of the UK’s most underrated.


The skyline of domes and spires is truly majestic, while the proportions of the wide and long main Union Street give the city centre a grandeur more befitting of a capital city. The granite buildings look like they have been carved directly from a rock face, their cut edges refusing to degenerate in the harsh elements.


Unlike most cities, many of the streets are elevated on viaducts or raised up on embankments, with steep stairs, bridges and tunnels adding to the effect of layering. Probably the best account of its architecture was given by Jonathan Meades in his recent Off Kilter series – you can watch it here>





In the gravy - tomb in St Nicholas Kirkyard


Aberdeen is home to some truly remarkable graveyards, which combined with the grey stonework, Victorian fairytale architecture and remaining medieval nobleman’s houses  give the entire city a sense of gothic gloom. The densely packed graveyards of St Machar’s Cathedral in Old Aberdeen or the city centre’s St Nicholas kirkyard are stuffed to the gills with fascinating monuments that refuse to weather with age, unlike their occupants.



The beach


Footdee



Footdee

Footdee


Away from the grandeur of the centre is the diminutive fishing village of Footdee (pronounced locally as “fitty”). The tiny cottages and huts, laid out in a grid formation, turn their backs to the city’s magnificent beach. Like the cobbled streets of old Aberdeen, or the small number of sublime Art Deco buildings, they help to reinforce Aberdeen as a city of surprises. My favourite Deco building is Rosemount Square, a curvaceous experiment in social housing which features modernist sculptures by Thomas Huxley-Jones.








We were in Aberdeen just a few days after the city council lent is approval to the controversial scheme to comprehensively redevelop the city centre’s Union Terrace Gardens. It has sparked even more debate than Donald Trump’s masterplan for a new £1bn golf resort to the north of the city.


Shadows in Union Terrace Gardens


Created in Victorian times, Union Terrace Gardens incorporate remnants of older open space known as the Corbie Haugh (corbie means crow and haugh translates as a low-lying meadow in a river valley – thanks Wikipedia!).


On a sunny day – as indeed it was last weekend – the steeply-sloping gardens are filled with shoppers and local retail and office workers enjoying the sunshine. And while there is some discussion about whether the gardens are underused there is no doubt that they are popular. Over recent years this debate about the future of Union Terrace Gardens has intensified. Two different schemes have been put forward for its redevelopment, although I’m sure there are many in the city who question why any change is required at all.


The first, more modest, £13.5 million scheme was promoted by Peacock Visual Arts to create a centre for contemporary arts in Aberdeen. The relatively modest building would have been sensitively set into the existing slopes of Union Terrace Gardens and contain a gallery, TV studio, print studio and offices. It was designed by London-based architect Brisac Gonzalez and largely retained much of the Gardens’ existing landscaping.


This scheme had received full planning permission and secured much of its funding, and had been due to begin construction last November. However, plans were derailed when an alternative proposal was forwarded by Sir Ian Wood. Who he? Sir Ian is chairman of Wood Group, a large engineering firm with its roots in the North Sea oil industry.


This second plan would eradicate the existing sloping gardens, replacing them with a level paved piazza. It would cost £140 million, of which Sir Ian has donated £50 million. It was this scheme that last week secured the backing of the City Council. It was a decision made in the face of a groundswell of public opinion against the scheme – even Annie Lennox lent her support to the campaign against it.


There has been a lot of confusion about what this scheme even involves – much talk of car parks, a new shopping centre and so on – but as it stands the project includes a large underground space which doesn’t yet have an intended role and might even end up as a cultural attraction. Or shops. Or a car park. How strange to be spending so much money and not knowing what’s going to happen inside!


While I can understand the idea of creating a large single public space, connecting the cultural attractions along one side – theatre, art gallery, library – with the retail offerings on Union Street, it’s not as if Aberdeen doesn’t already have some great public spaces, including the criminally underused Castlegate.


Despite all these rumblings, Aberdeen remains a fantastic place to visit. Even if only to witness the Hogarth-style scenes of drunken revellers filling Belmont Street in the wee hours.