Multi-disciplinary engineering practice Buro Happold is helping to transform Aberdeen's city centre, providing a broad scope of engineering services for a mixed-use development.

Located parallel to Union Street in the heart of Aberdeen and owned by Scottish-based developer Hazledene, works to build office accommodation and a medium-rise hotel have just gone on site. A 'sod-cutting' ceremony took place last week, where Scotland's First Minister, the Rt. Hon. Alex Salmond MSP, symbolically broke the turf to enable construction to proceed.

The office block and hotel are being built by main contractor Miller Construction on a brownfield site, where various low-rise developments including a service station have already been demolished.

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Richard Murphy Architects won a competition to design the new buildings, and the winning scheme includes the creation of semi-public courtyards at the heart of the site.

"We were very keen to establish a new public space for the city, rather than just a closed commercial development," explained lead architect Richard Murphy.

Buro Happold is helping to regenerate Aberdeen with the £42m scheme.

The 'IQ' scheme, worth £42m, is split between a commercial office development and a 180+ bedroom Park Inn Hotel, for the Rezidor hotel group. The hotel will rise to seven storeys, with all the associated modern services provision, a three-storey basement car park, and a total floor area of 13,000m2. It will include a restaurant with seating for over a hundred guests, as well as a bar, fitness suite and five flexible meeting rooms spread over 320m2.

The offices will consist of high quality open plan office space over six levels. A ground floor entrance will open into a full height atrium space with a number of upper floors opening onto external balconies.

"Aberdeen is Scotland's third city, and Buro Happold is proud to be aiding in its regeneration," said Andrew Burrell, the practice’s project leader on the scheme.

"The development is of an appropriate scale for the surrounding streetscape and will certainly prove a valuable addition to the town centre."

(GK/JM)