A plan to identify existing gaps, identify viable investment prospects, and enhance the retail offering in the city centre has been awarded a £39,000 grant.
Aberdeen City Council’s Finance and Resources Committee today agreed the monies for Aberdeen Inspired to commission an Aberdeen City Centre Property and Retail Strategy.
Committee Convener Councillor Alex McLellan said: “The Aberdeen City Centre Property and Retail Strategy will be a good asset in working out how to attract more retail to the area.
“We welcome that this data will be collected as it will help the city’s overall plan to ensure the city centre continues to be a place where people want to shop, live, and work.”
Co-Leader Councillor Ian Yuill said: “The Aberdeen City Centre Property and Retail Strategy fits in with the City Council’s current priorities of city centre regeneration. It also aligns with approved Council policies, including the Union Street Action Plan.
“We look forward to seeing the results from the Strategy and how they can be translated into ensuring we have a better and more resilient retail offering.”
The Aberdeen City Centre Property and Retail Strategy will assess the current health of retail property in Aberdeen's city centre and create an actionable plan to understand existing gaps, identify viable investment prospects, and enhance the retail offering.
The strategy will focus on optimising property utilisation and delivering a more vibrant, resilient occupier mix for the city. The project will conduct catchment demand analysis, geodemographic data collection, and competitor benchmarking to understand consumer patterns, spend leakage, and market saturation.
This knowledge will help determine how vacant spaces can be repurposed to improve the city centre and better serve local and regional consumer markets.
Adrian Watson, chief executive of Aberdeen Inspired, said: “To ensure we have a city centre that is sustainable and fit for the future this strategy will identify the gaps, what businesses people want, where they want them and how we can get those businesses here.
“This strategy will give us both a blueprint and roadmap on how to make all of that happen and is a vital part of the regeneration of our city centre. We are very grateful to Aberdeen City Council and the UK Shared Prosperity Fund for this grant which will make this exciting project possible.”
The report to committee said allocation of grant funding is from the UK Shared Prosperity Fund (UKSPF). The UKSPF money was allocated to the City Council by the UK Government. The core UKSPF element can be used across three priority areas - community and place, supporting local business, and people and skills.