Future Development
In 2010 controversial plans were unveiled to transform the gardens.
On 19 May, Aberdeen City Council voted in favour of the City Square project to transform the heart of the city into a vibrant, cultural civic space and gardens. At the same time an alternative plan for a contemporary art centre in the gardens, the Peacock proposal, was rejected.
Local oil tycoon Sir Ian Wood pledged up to £85 million of his own money to back the City Square project to "ensure the economic survival of the city centre". The current version of the plan involves raising the level of the Gardens, creating a square which is to be a "cross between a grand Italian piazza and a mini Central Park." A technical appraisal carried out by the architectural firm Halliday Fraser Munro estimated the project would cost around £140 million to build. Andrew Dixon, incoming boss of Scotland's new arts and culture body, Creative Scotland, recently praised the project as a "real opportunity for the city". As part of the project councillors stipulated that at least £15 million be provided for a new cultural centre run by Peacock.
Peacock Visual Arts had been working in partnership with Aberdeen City Council on an alternative proposal to develop a centre for contemporary arts in Aberdeen. The development, designed by London-based architects Brisac Gonzales, was designed to be built into the existing slopes in the Gardens underneath the Robert Burns statue. The building, which was budgeted at £13.5 million, would contain a gallery, TV studio, print studio, restaurant and offices for Peacock staff and provide a base for Aberdeen City Council's Arts Development and Arts Education teams as well as potentially extra space for Citymoves dance agency. This project had received full planning permission, secured £9.5 million of public funding from Aberdeen City Council, Scottish Enterprise, and the Scottish Arts Council and was scheduled to break ground in late November 2009 before being rejected by Aberdeen city councillors. The project's director, Elly Rothnie, was subsequently made redundant following Aberdeen City Council's decision to proceed with the City Square project. The proposed scheme favoured by Peacock Visual Arts was never put to public consultation and it is therefore difficult to assess its popularity amongst the residents of Aberdeen.
The result of a public consultation carried out by ACSEF showed that 55% of those consulted were against the City Square proposals with 44% in favour. Nonetheless, ACSEF (Aberdeen City and Shire Economic Futures), decided to press ahead with the project and asked the City Council for endorsement to proceed to a further stage, an international design competition. The City Square project has proved highly controversial amongst not only the citizens of Aberdeen, but many expatriate Aberdonians and others from further afield. Opponents of the project have formed a campaign group known as Friends of Union Terrace Gardens. The campaign group held a mass picnic in the gardens on 12 June 2010 which attracted over a thousand people and generated nearly 400 letters to councillors opposing the plans. On 2 March 2011, after a referendum in which 90000 people voted, it was announced that 52% had voted for the City Garden Project, moving the project to the next stage..
Read more about this topic: Union Terrace Gardens
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