Support UTG from Adam Proctor on Vimeo.
Over the past few months you will have no doubt received email which you will have misconstrued as spam and deleted straight away. Among this pile of myface e-crap there will have been notices from Aberdeen based groups Peacocks Visual Arts and I Love UTG. I know you deleted these emails because I was doing the same thing. It was only a few weeks ago I actually started to read these and here’s why.
It appears that money talks, in fact money does a lot more than talk in Aberdeen. If you have a spare £50 million pounds kicking about you can bully a city council into ignoring a world class city centre rejuvenation scheme in favour of yet another money-making concrete re-tail park of your own. Of course I’m talking about Sir Ian Wood’s recent behaviour towards the future of Union Terrace Gardens and his proposal.
The whole hooha basically boils down to two rival schemes, the Peacocks Visual Arts new centre and the City Square Project. The Peacocks scheme has been clear and detailed from the start. Off the top of my head I can tell you it will provide a cafe/bar, galleries, art studios, dance studios and several spaces for live events all whilst maintaining the majority of the historic gardens and housed under the roof of one of the best examples of architecture in Scotland. The only thing that is confirmed with Sir Woods scheme is the ‘raising of the gardens’, meaning total destruction of the existing gardens topped by a massive amount of concrete with some flowers on top. Vague images have been provided by Ian to woo the public showing tall trees growing from solid concrete, impracticable placement of buildings above railway lines and mock rivers flowing to nowhere. With these dreamy ambitions the projected cost of this scheme will not be £140 million, more like £400 million.
The frustrating part is that Ian Wood tells us he is doing it for the future of Aberdeen but if the public consultation goes against him and his project does not get the go ahead his donation will be withdrawn. It doesn’t seem like he’s that bothered at all about Aberdeen.
The man behind the design of the Peacocks scheme, Edgar Gonzales, came up with literally hundreds of original idea’s for the revitalisation of the city which were on display at Peacocks and available in an online booklet. Who should we trust with such an important space, an award winning architect or an oil tycoon with no master planning experience who might stand to make some money?
The way I see it, the Peacocks scheme is a base for the future. Union Terrace Gardens could be something quite special if the right planning and time is put into it. There’s potential for cafes, galleries, greenery and public squares to cascade from Belmont Street into the gardens covering the railway line and road creating an amphitheatre effect. It could be a green vibrant haven in the centre of a grey city.
None of this will happen if you don’t get involved. The reason for this little rant is because the consultation ends TODAY. Don’t be the person that moans after yet another terrible scheme has been built, moan now and make sure something good happens in Aberdeen for a change.
If you’re not convinced check the facts here at Compare the Square.
Please sign the online petition to save the new Peacocks Visual Arts Centre here.
Say no to the City Square Project here.
Cheers
Kaplank Kapow
3 comments:
mmm, concrete sounds good, maybe even some tasty ledges to sesh
peacocks designed ledge sections especially for skateboarders, how long you think it would take for Ians precious investment to be skate stopped. Broadstreet ring any bells?
No one gave a shit about the gardens 2 years ago.
Post a Comment