The creation of a new £215 million (approx. 265 million) innovative low-carbon business park took a major step forward on Wednesday, November 28 with a turf cutting ceremony at THE CORE at Bridge of Don in Aberdeen.
Mountgrange Investment Management LLP (Mountgrange) and Generate Land attended the event and Councilor Barney Crockett, Labour leader of Aberdeen City Council opened the ceremony. Mountgrange is the advisor to More OF Berryhill Limited, the owner of the site, and Generate Land is the development manager.
It was announced that detailed master plan, road layouts and landscaping have now been approved for the development and that negotiations with the first occupier at the park are at an advanced stage, with construction work set to begin in January of next year.
The investment by MoREOF shows its confidence in the continuing growth of the economy in the North East of Scotland. It is also a response to increasing demand from Aberdeen's oil, gas and renewables companies for additional high quality space to expand. Generate Land specializes in providing sustainable buildings and Aberdeen is the perfect location for it to provide low carbon solutions.
THE CORE lies within Scotland's Energetica Corridor, a joint initiative involving Scottish Enterprise and Aberdeen City and Shire, which stretches from the city of Aberdeen to Peterhead. It is a prominent location, close to the city, the harbor, the airport and the new Western peripheral road link. Its objective is to become a major hub for the energy sector and the aim is for the park to become one of the most energy efficient business communities in the UK.
Companies involved in the energy industries are looking for larger, more energy efficient premises. The units being constructed in THE CORE will incorporate the latest renewable technologies into buildings that will be "excellent" in standards set by the Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methods (BREEAM), enabling occupiers to significantly reduce running costs while operating in future-proof premises.
The 100-acre site will accommodate over 1.5 million ft² (approx. 139,350 m²) of office, industrial and distribution space. There is already £15 million (approx. 18.5 million) of finance in place for the infrastructure needed for the first phase which will include a new access road to the A90.
The developers will approach the project with the aim of creating a unique working environment in a coastal surrounding, which borders two championship golf courses and overlooks the dunes across Aberdeen Bay. The team will endeavor to create individual design and build solutions by engaging with occupiers to fully understand their needs in order to increase productivity in their new facilities.
Rob West, partner of Mountgrange, commented: "The turf cutting ceremony is a major milestone in the creation of THE CORE. The energy sector is continuing to grow in the North East and is creating demand for high quality space, making it a strong investment opportunity. Solicitors are now instructed to finalize lease terms for a substantial office and industrial pre-let alongside our first land sale."
Tony Brooks, CEO of Generate Land said: "We specialize in creating high quality energy efficient communities using sustainable building techniques and we are very confident that the units provided on THE CORE will significantly reduce both carbon emissions and occupier running costs for the end user."
Councilor Barney Crockett, leader of Aberdeen City Council, remarked: "Aberdeen is the UK's energy capital and plays a vital part in the Scottish economy. It is essential that we, as a council, continue to demonstrate we can react quickly to the demand for more and better business space as we have done at THE CORE.
"It is very encouraging that a London property fund like Mountgrange is investing a substantial amount of capital to provide a state of the art development at THE CORE. We hope their example will encourage other developers to follow and I can assure them that Aberdeen has
