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Aberdeen City Council's planning committee has supported amended plans for the Marischal College conversion into its new corporate HQ.
Subject to conditions, committee members unanimously approved plans to create a new glazed entrance to enclose the pend off Broad Street, remove vehicle access to the quadrangle, reduce the height of the planned multi-storey car park and cut back on surface car parking, change the design of new roof-level office space and replace windows within existing openings.
The pend will be enclosed at the front and the back using glass screens, with access via a revolving glass door into the new entrance lobby which will be created by the screens.
The glass will preserve views into the quadrangle and the revolving door will eliminate the potential wind-tunnel effect through the pend and cut down on heat loss. The revolving door will be designed to fold back to allow processions to pass unhindered through the lobby on ceremonial occasions.
The new lobby will provide access to a public reception area and a tourist information desk to the left of the pend and a customer service area on the right through new openings in the masonry.
People will have access through the pend into the quadrangle during normal working hours. Outside of working hours, entry into the main Marischal building will be closed off but access to the quadrangle will be maintained at reasonable times through the lobby.
Enclosing the pend with the glass screens will also block off vehicle access into the quadrangle, which will be pedestrianised and landscaped.
The original planning approval for the Marischal conversion included plans for multi-storey car parking over four floors - but engineering analysis has revealed that the foundations of neighbouring buildings could have been affected. The new plan proposes that there should be no lower-basement level parking in the multi-storey, along with a reduction in surface car parking elsewhere on the site. The number of parking spaces will now total 131.
Planning committee members also accepted proposed changes to the roof-level office accommodation, which will now be slightly less high and will feature window alignments to match the window pattern in the original A-listed Marischal College building.
(GK/JM)
