Winning design of City Garden Project public consultation revealed

City Garden: The Winter Garden, left, was more popular than the eventual winning design, Granite Web.©STV

The results of a public consultation on Aberdeen’s controversial City Garden Project which took place in October last year have been revealed.

Opponents of the contentious £140m plans to transform Union Terrace Gardens in the heart of Aberdeen have continually called for the results of the consultation to be made public.

Members of the public were given a choice between six designs for the proposed redevelopment of the city centre park.

The most popular design was Winter Garden by London-based Foster and Partners working with Vladimir Dujurovic Landscape Architecture from Beirut - which received 5847 votes.

The eventual winner of the City Garden Project design competition which was selected by a panel of judges was the Granite Web, which finished second in the public consultation.

The Diller Scofidio and Renfro design received 1378 votes.

The public’s two favourite designs were selected by the jury in the first phase of judging.

Aberdeen City Garden Trust said that the jury selected the public’s two designs after the first phase of judging and asked both teams to provide more detail on their concepts.

The trust said that this work “considerably improved the understanding of how each of the final two teams optimised the use of the space below and above ground.”

As a result the trust decided as the public’s preferences were made before the changes they felt it “would not be appropriate or fair to the design teams to make these rankings public.”

Tom Smith, director of Aberdeen City Garden Trust, said: “The winning design – the Granite Web - secured a 52% majority in the referendum and that is what is important.

“We now need to demonstrate we are a city with a bold ambition for the future and a can-do approach to making things happen with this unique opportunity to transform and regenerate our city centre.

“Failure to deliver on this when we have a world-class design, an internationally acclaimed, award-winning design team, public support, a robust and compelling business case and much of the funding through philanthropic donations will make us a laughing stock and severely damage the city’s reputation and ability to attract future investment.

“We hope that our Councillors will abide by the referendum and make the right decision in the best interests of our city on the August 22.”

People who read this story also read