Council lodges appeal against decision to list Aberdeen high-rise blocks
Updated: 22/04/2021, 8:03 pm
© Heather Fowlie/DC Thomson
Virginia Court and Marischal Court are among the buildings which could be listed.
Council chiefs have launched an appeal against the controversial decision to grant A-listed status to eight high-rise blocks in Aberdeen.
In January Historic Environment Scotland (HES) announced it planned to give the buildings the same protected status as iconic structures including Marischal College and Aberdeen Music Hall, signifying their “outstanding importance” to Scotland’s history.
The decision provoked a furious backlash, with city leaders, MPs and MSPs accusing the agency of ignoring local opinion on the issue.
Council lodges appeal against decision to list Aberdeen high-rise blocks
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© Darrell Benns / DCT Media
Filming for the movie Tetris taking place on Seamount Court, Gallowgate, Aberdeen.
Residents of eight listed Aberdeen high rises have, for the first time, had it spelled out to them what they now can and cannot do to their own homes.
It affords the buildings the same protected status as Marischal Square and the Music Hall.
Council chiefs are still trying to convince the government’s heritage quango that Gilcomstoun Land, Virginia Court, Marischal Court, Thistle Court, Hutcheon Court, Greig Court, Porthill Court and Seamount Court are not of special architectural or historic importance.
Their appeal may, however, be hurt by the recent use of the latter two, in the Gallowgate, in the production of Hollywood Soviet-era film Tetris.
They were to be the solution to city housing problems, towering high above the rooftops and providing residents with a head for heights, a bird’s eye view of the world below. Multi-storey flats sprouted across British urban landscapes from the 1950s onwards; a perfect way to cram dozens of families onto a relatively small footprint even if from the outside they looked like giant concrete boxes. While social problems plus the costs of maintaining the ‘streets in the sky’ led to many being razed to the ground in spectacular demolitions, in Aberdeen, at least, a group of Brutalist high-rise homes which have dominated the skyline for over half a century has received the ultimate in historic protection.
Council to seek advice on appealing Grade A listing of Aberdeen multi-storeys
© Donna Ewen
Hutcheon Court is among the buildings given a Grade A listing.
Aberdeen City Council has agreed to seek advice on appealing the decision to award eight multi-storey buildings in the city Grade A listed status.
The inner-city buildings were given the status by Historic Environment Scotland HES last month, on the basis of their “outstanding architectural and historic interest”.
But the listing has proved controversial, with the Scottish Government’s housing minister Kevin Stewart saying it would restrict remedial and repair work on the buildings affecting thousands of people.
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