Readers may be aware that there are significant cultural and sporting events being pursued in Aberdeenshire. Donald Trump's controversial golf course is one of the issues that grabs the headlines but there are other areas of uncertainty and conflict.
Peacock Printmaker's in Aberdeen have brought forward development plans for a development that would provide a new gallery and print studio on the Union Street Gardens site. They have secured the bulk of the £12 million funding required to realise their project but find themsleves in conflict with a commercial venture (that does not have full funding available at this time).
The current plans are the subject of consultation which may not be completed before the deadline for commiting the funding available to the Peacock Project. The consultation process relates to the commercial project and appears to overlook the sympathetic development planned by Peacock. While the commercial project looks to some of the great city squares around the world, for comparisons, it would have been intersting to see the Peacock scheme involved in the consulltation, taking the Abteiberg site in Moenchen Gladbach as an example of what can be achieved with organic growth rather than unremitting concrete.
Douglas Marr writes about these conflicting projects in a recent edition of Scottish Review. Reading his paper, it is interesting to observe parallels with some ongoing developments in South Ayrshire.
To read Douglas Marr's Article, please follow this LINK
For information about Peacock Printmaker's project and Union Gardens, please follow this LINK
For further information about the competing projects, please follow this LINK
For information about the Abteiberg Gallery in Moenchen Gladbach, please follow this LINK
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Over recent months, Aberdeen has been consulting on the possibility of being designated "UK City of Culture" in 2013. (We carried a note about this consultation and a link to the questionnaire in our November edition of the website frontpage.) At the same time the city has been developing a Cultural Strategy.
The Cultural Strategy was published for consultation
shortly before Christmas and the opportunity for comments was closed on
1st February, 2010.
As South Ayrshire moves towards a Cultural Strategy for our district, it could be helpful to view how one of the major Scottish cities has approached the exercise.
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