Simpson Buglass, Head of Savills Aberdeen Office, explores the opportunity to breathe new life into Aberdeen’s Union Street.
Next year marks 225 years since the conception of Union Street in Aberdeen, described at the outset as ‘one of the finest streets in the Empire’. As with with many high streets throughout the UK, it has been challenged by competition from covered malls, out-of- town retail and most recently internet shopping.
Nevertheless major efforts are underway to restore Union Street to its former glory, and central to that is the aspiration of the City Centre Masterplan to attract 3,000 more residents into the city centre over the next 20 or so years.
Urban living
Savills was commissioned by Aberdeen City Council to provide a strategy to support the effort to revitalise Union Street and Aberdeen’s city centre. Through this we identified that demand for city-centre housing in the UK is on the increase as part of a global trend, with urban living and lifestyles increasingly popular among young professional workers, families and downsizers.
This trend is creating new opportunities for property investors and developers, so long as the right product can be delivered at the right price. This is particularly pertinent in Aberdeen. The future of the city centre needs to be based on boosting the number of mixed tenure residential units, allowing for a full suite of spending power and age groups that would in turn create a greater vibrancy and stronger night-time economy with more sustainable support of retail, leisure and cultural facilities.
Making Union Street shine again is all about bringing more people into the centre of Aberdeen. If more people live in the centre and more work in the centre then the combination of the two is going to introduce new spending power which will support, feed and grow the retail and leisure offerings.
Conversions
Because of the challenging nature and higher costs of residential conversions of old buildings as opposed to new builds on greenfield sites, in our City Living Strategy we proposed that developers should be offered support to encourage this vital type of development.
We are encouraged that Councillors have voted in favour of our key proposal for a time-limited freeze on affordable housing contribution obligations with immediate effect. This bold initiative will help to bridge the viability gap that currently exists in the market. It will act as a stimulus, driving private sector investment and bringing forward development. The time-limited horizon is likely to create a sense of urgency to encourage delivery: indeed there are already some signs that the market is starting to react positively.
Due to various economic factors, we have not had a properly functioning residential property development market in the city centre for a number of years, and this needs to change for residential development to occur. If the ties between private and public sector stakeholders in new housing provision in the city centre can be strengthened then this should increase knowledge and understanding of each party’s role, needs and goals and identify the barriers that need to be overcome.
Creating a regeneration team within other local authorities, focusing on city centre development, has been effective in towns and cities around the UK in identifying potential opportunities and providing direct contacts for the development industry. With the establishment of its new City Living Team, Aberdeen is set to do the same.
