Aberdeen City Council has welcomed the "significant progress" being made on two ambitious multi-million-pound projects to completely transform the city centre and beachfront into vibrant attractions for local people and visitors.

The update report presented to the Finance and Resources Committee outlined a number of highlights over the last year in some of the high priority projects comprising the City Centre and Beach Masterplan (CCBMP) including the start of central Union Street public realm improvements, enabling works for the new market building, and the construction of the new Beach Park getting underway.

Aberdeen City Council Co-Leader Councillor Ian Yuill said: "Physical changes are now taking shape in the city centre and at the beach. These changes will play a key part in transforming the city centre and beach into even more attractive places to visit and spend time.

-- Advertisement --

"The update at today's Council meeting underlined the sheer scale of the projects - the biggest the city has seen in 200 years - and the Council's continuing determination to make them a reality."

Aberdeen City Council's Finance and Resources Convener, Councillor Alex McLellan said: "Aberdeen City Council is delivering significant regeneration to our city centre and transformational investment at our beachfront to ensure our city continues to be somewhere people want to live, work, visit or invest.

"There are works now ongoing at Union Street, at the beach and at the former BHS site, which represents some of the biggest changes our city has seen in years."

The update also highlighted the approval of an updated business case for public realm improvements on Union Street East, Union Street West, the West End, and Castlegate, alongside the delivery of the Union Street Empty Shops Action Plan which has seen a reduction in empty units thanks to £195,000 grant funding. 

The report looked forward to the next stage of development which include:

• Construction of a 2.5 hectare Events Park and Broadhill enhancement as part of the £61.8million Beachfront Phase A project;

• The anticipated completion of the Union Street Central Public Realm streetscaping by late summer 2025;

• Approximately 24 months of construction to deliver the new Aberdeen Market;

• Securing additional resources to further support the Union Street Empty Shops Action Plan;

• Completion of the new Beach Park by the end of 2025 / early part of 2026.