The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Brolly bid to shine light on hidden conditions
Welcome to our weekly round-up of the latest planning applications lodged with Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire councils.
We are giving you a sneak glimpse into the proposals that will shape our communities over the coming years.
This week we have a look at plans for one of the many town centre banks closed in recent times, with a new whisky shop earmarked for Huntly’s former TSB.
And we feature more ambitions to regenerate the heart of Aberdeen by converting old office buildings into flats.
First though, some proposals that could bring a splash of colour to the city’s granite surroundings this summer.
To raise awareness of neurodiversity, Aberdeen Inspired is applying for permission to create a multi-coloured installation of umbrellas next month.
Under the scheme, the brollies will be suspended over Shiprow and Bon Accord Terrace. The images submitted to council planners reveal how the streets could look after the eye-catching makeovers.
In a letter to the council, Aberdeen Inspired said the project will “create compelling reasons for families and individuals to visit the city centre”.
It will shine a light on hidden conditions like ADHD, autism, dyslexia, dyspraxia, dyscalculia and Tourette’s syndrome.
Elsewhere in the city centre, an abandoned restaurant could become a sports bar’s second pool hall. Blueprints submitted by Legends owner Fiona Daniel show how the neighbouring building, the former Jack’s Steakhouse and Grill, would be transformed.
The old restaurant would become a space for four new pool tables, with a bar and a seating area.
In March, we revealed that long-awaited plans to resurrect the pavilion at Tarlair Swimming Pool had finally been submitted to Aberdeenshire Council.
And now we can confirm that local authority planners have signed off on the major upgrades to the historic building.
Brandishing their rubber stamp, council officers agreed the plans “would respect the character of the asset”.
The pavilion proposal is just phase one of the Friends of Tarlair’s ambitions for the former “mecca of the Moray Firth”.
The scheme attracted several letters of support, and rekindled good memories for Forres’s Frank Ritchie.
He said: “Tarlair was such an important part of my childhood when I was growing up in Macduff. I am delighted to see that such a beautiful building in such a great location has an opportunity of being preserved and restored.”
Over at Haddo House, a fountain that has been dry for many years could soon burst back into life.
The National Trust for Scotland (NTS), which runs the historic mansion near Methlick, described the broken water feature as “part of a key vista”.
It was commissioned in 1898, with flower beds arranged around it. But it has fallen into disrepair in recent years, with patchwork upgrades being carried out every so often.
Now, NTS said: “Due to the frequency of previous repair projects and the loss of original fabric in previous schemes, the trust are looking to undertake a robust repair project which will safeguard the fountain into the future.”
Another storied site in line for changes is the former Victoria Road School in Torry. In 2019, the council approved plans to transform it into a new housing development.
Now, developers have been given permission for a slight tweak to the scheme – creating 14 flats in one block rather than the originally planned nine. It will increase the overall number of properties there from 50 to 55.
The changes were required after builders discovered the poor condition of that section of the site, and to help make the project “more viable” after costs spiralled.
Meanwhile, a former west end office block has been earmarked for new Aberdeen housing.
The former home of the Hampton creative agency at 11 Victoria Street has been unoccupied for some time. Aberdeen-based Neil Scullion has now lodged proposals to transform boardrooms into bedrooms by splitting it into two homes.
Nearby, at the top end of Union Street, developers are taking a gamble on turning a former Ladbrokes into a new block of five flats.
The scheme, which has been approved by Aberdeen City Council, will see the four-storey 469 Union Street transformed into one-bedroom flats.
Gibraltar-based MC Leisure is behind the overhaul, which the planning department said was consistent with the council’s ambitions to get more residents living in the stagnant city centre.
While many Aberdonians are keen to see new life brought to the city’s many abandoned offices, not everyone is impressed with plans recently formed for Ruby House. Under the scheme, the brutalist fourstorey block which is off North Silver Street would be converted into 65 flats.
Aberdeen Civic Society said the office building “is not at all attractive and has looked out of place in this part of Aberdeen for a long time”.
Finally, some plans Huntly residents will be keen to raise a glass to.
When the TSB in The Square shut last February, it left a gaping hole in the town centre. Now Malcolm Littler, of DSTW Properties Ltd, has put forward plans to turn the abandoned unit into a new whisky shop and tasting room.
The proposed Whiskies of Scotland building would use the first floor as the tasting room, and the second floor for storage.