MORE than 150 city centre businesses and public sector representatives will attend an Emergency Summit to tackle the decline of the city’s Union Street.
The event, which is now almost oversubscribed, will see speakers and panellists talk candidly about the challenges facing the city’s main thoroughfare and the businesses that depend upon it and explore potential short and medium-term solutions to improve its fortunes.
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Organised by Aberdeen Inspired, the city’s Business Improvement District (BID), in association with Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce’s Vanguard initiative, the event will take place on November 9 at the city’s Douglas Hotel.
Richard Laing, professor of urban collaboration at Northumbria University and formerly with The Robert Gordon University’s Scott Sutherland School of Architecture and the Built Environment, will give the keynote address. In setting the scene, he will explore the challenges facing high streets and how Aberdeen could unite to reverse Union Street’s decline.
The summit will also feature panel sessions with commercial property agents, developers and BID levy payers from all sectors, who will discuss their specific challenges and how these could be addressed.
These include Derren McRae, senior director of CBRE, Richard Noble, managing director of FG Burnett, Dan Smith, associate director of Savills and Dean Gowans of The City Restoration Project.
A second panel session will look at the situation through the eyes of levy payers including Stuart McPhee, director of Siberia Bar & Hotel, Mario Gizzi, founding director and co-owner of Amarone, Christopher Carry, partner, Jamieson & Carry and Padraig McCloskey from Shell, which is about to move into offices in the city centre.
The panel discussions will be followed by an interactive session, chaired by Ryan Crighton, policy and marketing director of Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce. Working in groups delegates will explore ideas that could quickly improve the look and feel of Aberdeen’s city centre.
Adrian Watson, chief executive of Aberdeen Inspired said: “The high demand for spaces at the event underlines the concern for the state of Union Street but, more importantly, the desire to collectively try and fix it.
“It’s important that this summit is not just another talking shop. Equally, we don’t want it to be hi-jacked by those who simply want to air grievances about what has, or has not, gone before.
“It’s vital that we come together with a can-do attitude and creative approach to identify and explore ways to solve the challenges Union Street faces.
“Aberdeen Inspired will then work with partner agencies and businesses to review and evaluate those solutions, break down any barriers and find ways of implementing them for the greater good.”
The summit is free to attend and open to fully paid-up levy payers of Aberdeen Inspired. Partner agencies, key stakeholders and decision-makers have been invited.
