Plans to demolish former Aberdeen police HQ based on ‘complete fallacy’ — as heritage boffins fight to save brutalist blot.

A prominent history advocate has spoken out against Aberdeen City Council’s plan to demolish the former Queen Street police headquarters.

Plans to demolish Aberdeen’s former police headquarters have been dubbed “completely ignorant” of their environmental impact. Heritage advocates accuse the council of “disingenuous smoke and mirrors” in its plans to demolish the seven-story 1970s block on Queen Street.

Officers left the brutalist police tower in 2020 for Marischal College across the street, paving the way for Queen Street’s long-awaited reconstruction.

Case far from closed: Fight begins to save former Queen Street police station

The north-east arm of the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland (AHSS) is spearheading opposition to the demolition.

Queen Street work had previously stopped while council officials were tasked with “soft marketing” to try to locate someone who would repurpose the property, with limited success.

The north-east AHSS chairman, John Coyne, has slammed the “highly opaque” process, claiming there is a dearth of detail regarding the lengths council authorities have gone to locate a buyer. He also doubts the council’s assessment of the “stark, utilitarian, brutalist” edifice that it intends to demolish.

“What authoritative academic or professional body has been invited to make an assessment of the building’s architectural value?” Mr. Coyne challenged. “None is cited, so what has been stated is merely opinion.”

Throughout his letter, he constantly accused the council of stating “opinion as fact, unsupported by any factual evidence.””.

Queen Street police HQ demolition key to ‘urban park’ plans

Queen Street has long been planned for redevelopment. Work has recently been delayed due to the necessity for emergency repairs to Mitchell Tower, which is located behind the campus and is still owned by Aberdeen University.

Queen Street was originally planned as a mixed-use cultural quarter, but the council scrapped those plans in favour of the SNP’s projected £15 million “urban park” in 2022.However, in the proposal, the council’s Keppie Design says that the “end use for the site is yet to be determined.””.

Meanwhile, Glasgow consultants believe the flattened site will be filled in and gated off with hoardings, with a small area set aside for sitting and a coffee truck.

Council promises branded ‘disingenuous’, ‘smoke and mirrors’ and ‘complete fallacy’

Mr Coyne, a heritage lover, feels Keppie’s statement that there is no immediate plan for the land is “rather disingenuous, making use of semantics in an appalling manner since the stated intention of the demolition is to prepare the site for redevelopment”.

He is encouraging council planners to delay approval of demolition until precise designs for what will replace the police station are completed.

The construction expert also dismisses the environmental guarantees stated in the application.

According to Scottish planning policy, demolition is the least preferred option for an existing building, not just because of the carbon emitted during demolition, but also because of the energy needed in generating the materials used to build it and its construction.

According to Keppie, Aberdeen City Council has attempted to identify an alternative use for the building, but none are “economically viable”.

However, the consultants state that “99.9% of the building material and demolition product can be reused on or off site, or recycled” following demolition.

Mr Coyne believes this demonstrates the council’s experts’ “complete ignorance”. The claim implies that 99.9% will be recycled, which is clearly not the case in demolition projects.

“It is more’smoke and mirrors’ to claim that the building’s structural components would be recycled.

“It is a complete fallacy that [they] will be reused on site.”

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