New tay of life
THIS WEEK: Go with the flow and enjoy life on the waterfront
ART, as an instrument of urban renewal, is nothing new in Scotland. In 1983, Glasgow’s international profile soared with the opening of the Burrell Collection in Pollok Park. Suddenly, a post-industrial metropolis showed there really was life after the silent shipyards and redundant steel works.
This weekend, it’s the turn of Dundee to enjoy its moment in the global spotlight as the £80 million V&A welcomes its first visitors.
Like Glasgow, Dundee prospered as a result of the river that ran through it. The silvery Tay gave access to markets in all five continents for the jute it produced in enormous quantities.
When the river went quiet, in the second half of the 20th Century, the city’s fortunes went down with it.
The Spanish city of Bilbao faced similar problems. The opening of a branch of the Guggenheim Museum transformed its fortunes, seeing visitor numbers leap from 169,000 in 1996 – the year before it opened – to 726,000 15 years later.
Dundee appears to have learned the Spanish lesson. It was not just the arrival of the Guggenheim which sparked the riverside revival; local authorities spent a fortune on transforming the area, opening a Metro and opening new public parks.
Dundee has committed to a £1 billion redevelopment of its waterfront. Hotel groups have seen the writing on the wall and joined the stampede for a Dundee foothold.
Less than a mile from the V&A lies an exciting development of new flats and penthouses, with breathtaking riverside views of Fife and the Tay bridges.
Colin Emslie, manager of the new house section of estate agent Thorntons, said: ‘As soon as the V&A project was announced, everything started to happen.
‘Across from the V&A, they are going to be building a Marriot. We now have international clients and I’ve just shown the flats to a family from Malaysia, whose daughter is going to be at the university.
‘I remember Dundee when it was in the doldrums. This has dragged the city up by its bootstraps and the level of interest in these properties is phenomenal.’
The Waterfront Apartments consist of a block of three buildings created on former industrial land by the long-established Dundee builder, H&H Properties UK.
Just one penthouse remains of the central block, priced at a fiver below £400,000. Of the adjoining block, the developer has only released 50 per cent of the properties and all but 10 per cent of them have been sold.
The next release will involve the other half of the building. The third phase will follow, once phase two has sold out.
Each apartment enjoys a southfacing balcony or terrace to take advantage of the breathtaking views over the Tay… and the rest of the riverfront revival.