Just the very best of days…
Now when I explain that I spent it up and down the stairs, in and out of rooms and across roof spaces of vacant, sometimes long-empty units, you’re maybe going to gently hint that I should get out more.
But for tackling #highstreet vacancy and the part of that featuring un- and under-used upper floors, it’s something we’d heartily encourage every town and city centre where that’s a challenge (opportunity) to get underway.
I learned a huge amount and genuinely feel – while emphasising it’s absolutely not easy – that this is the start of a journey that will see some of these spaces occupied again.
That’s because I went as part of a team drawn together by Aberdeen Inspired BID as a practical ‘next step’ in the ongoing tackling vacancy initiative on Union Street.
For that work and the progress they’ve made on it as a ‘place partnership’, the city is already I’d say a national beacon…
…and now they’re extending the working together theme by creating a panel comprising council planning, conservation and building standards colleagues with private sector architects, developers and commercial #property agents to explore vacant upper floors here, one by one.
The idea is, together, to establish what these empty spaces could be used for, what the barriers are and how they can be overcome, what part each of the individuals and organisations involved can play in that, and beyond them, where we could use regulation or policy support or change along the way.
On Visit 1 we explored 4 units. I’m already very much looking forward to the next.
If this is an issue in your place, do get in touch, we’d love to swap notes…
