Archive for category: News

Aberdeen’s project to involve young people in the Beach Masterplan won the People’s Choice award at the Scottish Planning Innovation Awards yesterday (21 March).

Children and young people from around the city took part in stakeholder engagement sessions last year helping to shape the new attractions. The award recognises innovation in working with all age groups, excellence in leadership or achievement.

Aberdeen City Council Co-Leader Councillor Ian Yuill said: “It is great to see the council’s work in engaging young people in the Beach Masterplan being recognised. “Involving young people in plans is important to shape our city for future generations.”

Aberdeen City Council Co-Leader Councillor Christian Allard said: “It is important that we engage with our children and young people on the key themes and elements of the Beach Masterplan.
“Winning this award highlights our commitment to involving young people in our future plans.”

The main features of the Beach Park include a play park, sports area/pump track, gateway building, hub building, and canopy features.
The play park will provide a significantly-sized outdoor destination, facilitate connections to the city centre, create a focus for activity, and will act as a key ‘gateway’ into the wider park and the beach. The seaside location and the rope factory that was once located to the south of the site have both been key inspirations that have helped shape the design of the play area.

The Scottish Planning Innovation Award programmes showcase outstanding achievements in planning. The awards celebrate the contribution made by the planning profession to communities, and to raise awareness and understanding of the work of the industry.

Works for a new beach park as part of the City Centre and Beach Masterplan have started with construction for an events park and enhancement of Broadhill to commence within weeks.

Aberdeen City Council’s Finance and Resources Committee yesterday approved an update of the £48million Beachfront Phase A project which included details of the three different elements of the scheme including the start of works to the new playpark area.

Committee convener Councillor Alex McLellan said: “It is very exciting to have the start of works to the playpark and associated parking as the first of the new beachfront improvements which will help attract people to the area as well as enhance natural features.

“We look forward to watching the beach park area progress and work starting on the events park and Broadhill in the coming months.”

The report to committee said planning consent was granted in December 2023 for the playpark, car park, and events park. Building warrant applications are now being prepared for the rope factory, hub building, gateway building, amphitheatre, site-wide drainage, and canopy.

The new works are designed to renew the beachfront to maximise the potential of this unique space and create an exceptional asset for the city.

The main features of the Beach Park include a play park, sports area/pump track, gateway building, hub building, and canopy features.

The play park will provide a significantly-sized outdoor destination, facilitate connections to the city centre, create a focus for activity, and will act as a key ‘gateway’ into the wider park and the beach. The seaside location and the rope factory that was once located to the south of the site have both been key inspirations that have helped shape the design of the play area.

In conjunction with youth engagement exercises, the play area has been broken down into four main character or themed areas – The Sports Zone, The Adventure Zone, The Woodland Zone, and The Coastal Zone. Throughout all these zones, there will be rope strands creating feature routes which promote exploration and interaction between the core play and the themed zones.

Sitting within the Adventure Zone at the centre of the park is the Rope Factory, a large-scale bespoke play structure which will become an iconic element within the park and an attraction of national significance. The idea for this iconic piece of play has evolved out of workshops with the youth groups and schools.

The Events Park is an area of approximately 2.5 hectares and is intended as a flexible space capable of holding events including festivals, larger concerts and gatherings. The Field will be the central focus of this area, semi-enclosed by woodland planting, providing definition and increased shelter.

The vision for Broadhill is to enhance the natural environment of this distinctive feature achieved through additional planting, furthering the diversity of habitat and ecological value. Access on Broadhill will be enhanced by upgrading the existing path network through resurfacing and management and as there is an extensive network of formal and informal paths, and it is not intended to introduce or change this network in any significant way.

Heras fencing has gone up in preparation for work starting on the new beach playpark area.

The playpark was given planning permission in December 2023 along with other amenities as part of a beach park and events park with supporting blue badge parking, as part of the City Centre and Beach Masterplan which is designed to reinvigorate the areas culturally and economically, attracting people to spend time in them.

This first phase of works would upgrade the green spaces which already attract visitors to the area while providing a higher quality environment and broadening the range of activities which can be enjoyed at the beach.

• The beach park area, at the south end of the site, will focus on a variety of landscaped play and sports areas with built structures including a gateway building, a hub building, two canopies, and a play structure called The Rope Factory.
• The car park and junction will be from Links Road and would provide dedicated blue badge parking spaces to the beach park area.
• The events park, at the Beach Ballroom end of the site, will have several structures including a canopy and an amphitheatre building.

There will also be additional public realm and landscaping at the site which will be covered under Permitted Development.

The City Centre and Beach Masterplan is designed to capitalise on the built and natural assets of the area which is a tourism priority in its own right and will continue to be in demand as people seek safe, outdoor, wildlife, and active experiences. The beach area is also an intrinsic component of the Aberdeen Coastal Trail, and the wide variety of tourism offer that includes nature, golf, maritime history, and dolphin watching.

The work means the current playpark will be removed, and it is within the heras fencing area so will not be able to be used meantime.

Children and young people are to receive encouragement to get involved in shaping Aberdeen’s city centre and beachfront masterplan from an unusual source – a pair of animated seagulls, Dave and Sam.

The savvy seagulls, not to be confused with sixties ‘Soul Man’ songsters Sam and Dave, are the brainchild of Aberdeen pupils already involved in placemaking discussions on the projects with Aberdeen City Council’s Creative Learning team.

Originally designed as comic books by pupils and now voiced by local children in animated cartoons, the feathered friends aim to inspire young people to come forward with their ideas for what they’d like to see included in the overarching project plans for transforming the city.

The council’s Finance and Resources convener, Councillor Alex McLellan, said: “ “It is essential that we engage with our children and young people on the key themes and elements of the City Centre and Beach Masterplan in a way that they can understand and that captures their imaginations.

“From the outset of the masterplan, we made sure that, in line with our commitment to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child, our children and young people’s views were actively sought and considered. What better way to achieve this than by engaging the creative talents of the young people themselves?”

Education and Children’s Services convener, Councillor Martin Greig, said: “Our Creative Learning team and the pupils involved in creating Dave and Sam have done a fine job in devising imagery and messages that will engage and inspire young minds.

“I look forward to seeing and hearing the animated films soon.”

The animations will be launched over the following weeks, alongside a guide for teachers and parents which will include links to how the work also helps to support elements of the Curriculum for Excellence.

Dave and Sam formed just part of the update report on the City Centre Streetscape discussed at today’s full council meeting at which recommendations were approved for the design and installation of streetscaping improvements on Union Street East, Castlegate, Union Street West, West End and Market Street including cycle lanes, greenery, upgraded lighting, street furniture and new public transport links.

Councillors also approved a preferred cycle route linking Market Street to Guild Street and this and the streetscaping improvement recommendations will be referred to the capital planning and budget process for future years’ delivery.

Pending the outcomes of the budget process the Chief Officer for Capital has been instructed to monitor and report progress to the Finance and Resources Committee while his counterpart for Strategic Place Planning is instructed to formally approach potential partners for future year’s capital funding contributions for active travel streetscape projects.