Historic Aberdeen gardens finally to be turfed after revamp

The central lawn of Aberdeen's historic Union Terrace Gardens will be turfed within the next few weeks after reopening last year, the council has said.

The gardens - which originally opened in 1879 - have been undergoing a £28m redevelopment since 2019.

They reopened in December but the addition of grass has been on hold.

Aberdeen City Council said preparatory groundworks had started to allow turf to be laid in a "couple of weeks".

The council initially said UTG grassing the area could follow February's Spectra light festival.

However, cold and wet weather in early spring delayed the work.

When laid, the new turf will be fenced off initially to let the grass get established.

It is hoped that the fencing will be taken down in mid summer.

Meanwhile, priorities to revive Union Street - which runs past UTG - have been unveiled.

Since March, Our Union Street - a new working group - has gathered thousands of ideas from the public on how to improve the city's so-called Granite Mile.

The organisation has identified five key challenges for the street: footfall, accessibility, the state of the street, empty shops and narrative.

It aims to recruit volunteers to tackle issues and draw up an action plan.

Sir Howard Bernstein - Manchester City Council's former chief executive who helped transform the city - has been in Aberdeen sharing his thoughts on the way forward as part of the initiative.

"It's a great place," he told BBC Scotland. "It always has been. And always will be.

"The potential here is enormous."

Sir Howard explained: "Like everywhere else in the UK or indeed other parts of Europe, it would be silly to pretend that the pandemic hasn't created different challenges for Aberdeen.

"Clearly Aberdeen already has some huge successes under its belt. There's been some huge investment here over the last few years. The port, conference centre, diversifying the economic base, driving business formation through the widely-acclaimed tech hub and strengthening ties with academia.

"There are not many quick fixes where regeneration is concerned. Regeneration is a long-term gain. It's about careful place-making, it's about proper interventions and getting residents and businesses on side. It's about prudent public investment which then leads to significant private investment and that doesn't happen overnight."