Tycoon pledges extra £35m from personal fortune for Gardens
An artist's impression of the new gardens. Picture: PA
OIL tycoon Sir Ian Wood has staked another £35 million from his personal fortune in a bid to secure public backing for his dream of transforming Aberdeen’s Union Terrace Gardens into a vibrant new heart for the city.
Scotland’s second-richest man has already pledged £50m to kick start the divisive transformational scheme and to pay 80 per cent of the estimated £250,000 cost of holding a postal ballot on the £140m scheme.
But yesterday, in a move aimed at silencing critics, the head of the Wood Group announced that he would be prepared to put up a further £35m from the Wood Family Trust as a contingency fund in the “unlikely event” of a cost over-run for the project.
Sir Ian said he was putting up the cash to counter the “scaremongering, speculation and misinformation” being spread by opponents of the scheme, including claims that the project could cost double its current estimate.
But critics of the gardens scheme accused Sir Ian of throwing “fool’s gold” at the project.
Sir Ian, who has pledged to walk away from the proposed scheme, should the people of Aberdeen reject the project, said he had put up the extra millions to demonstrate his confidence in the cost estimates for the City Garden Project.
He has given an undertaking to the city council to make available a reserve contingency of up to £35m to cover “genuine cost over runs”.
Sir Ian said: “Concerns have been expressed about the impact of any potential cost over-run to the City Garden Project. These are being irresponsibly fuelled by mis-information and unfounded speculation. The Granite Web is a particularly cost effective design, which should definitely be delivered within the £140m estimate, which already includes some contingencies. Wood Family Trust will give an undertaking to the council to pay for any cost over run up to 25 per cent of the £140m estimate to cover the very unlikely event of any cost escalation.
“This should eliminate any concerns on this issue.
Sir Ian stressed that the project represented a “once in a lifetime” chance to transform Aberdeen. He added: “It’s really important that people vote. This is an extraordinarily important project for Aberdeen.”
But Councillor Willie Young, the secretary of the opposition Labour group, described the offer as “fool’s gold.”
He claimed: “In our view it shows that the project hasn’t been costed properly otherwise he wouldn’t have had to come out with this offer and dug deep into his pocket again.
“It’s an admission that the costs put to the council are unsustainable.”
Email to a friend
Print this page- Scottish independence: I don’t want ‘separatism’ says Sir Tom Farmer
- Scottish independence: Labour voters ‘will deliver independence’
- Craig Levein insists Scotland will recover from US thrashing
- Rangers administration: End game nears for fallen icon
- Tom English: ‘A mammoth investigation, so vast that it is without parallel in the history of the Scottish game’
Looking for...
Featured advertisers
Jobs
Search for a job
Motors
Search for a car
Property
Search for a house
Weather for Edinburgh
Monday 28 May 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 15 mph
Wind direction: North east
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: 10 C to 16 C
Wind Speed: 10 mph
Wind direction: North east
Comments
There are 10 comments to this article
Page 1 of 1
bodach
Monday, February 13, 2012 at 08:55 PMWood is obviously desperate to have his name on something after he has departed this life. He could save himself a lot of flack now if he would just go and buy a grave marker.
Alan Craigie
Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 12:01 PMIan Woods today threatening to spend his 50 million in Africa. He appears extremely desperate to have his publicly subsidized development proceed. You have to wonder how much of the new underground property he will retain.
Lies and stats
Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 10:53 AMI look forward to my vote which I believe will like most Aberdonains be no. There are loads of useful things in Aberden that could be done with 50 million screwing up Union Terrace gardens and adding to our councils debts is not one of them. However a few bob spent on the gardens would restore them to the state I remember as a child, popular, well used, toilets, chess of draughts beside the arches etc. It is a crying shame that this farcical exercise stopped Peacocks who had the funding going ahead with their project in the gardens which would have benefited the city.
Tobytoo
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 05:03 PMLeave the gardens alone.
Graham Slater
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 01:29 PMDear Colin Crosby, Please put in the public domain the data which, and the correspondents who, gave you gounds to forecast that the concrete monstrosity with which you intend to obliterate our beautiful Victorian city-centre gardens will create 6,500 jobs. NOBODY BELIEVES YOU, MAN.
Graham Slater
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 01:25 PMDear Sir Ian Wood, Please do NOT proceed with your CRAZY plan to fell nearly 100 century-old trees and bulldoze beautiful Victorian parklands. We can find a cheaper way to deck over the road and railway while preserving the mature green space at the heart of your native city, and ours.
Graham Slater
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 01:21 PMSir Ian Wood has failed to produce any written or documentary evidence to explain to the public how his £140 million costing was calculated. ACSEF too have been singularly silent on specifics, preferring, perhaps, to kep what they know to themselves: as they have persistently done, most recently by refusing to put in the public domain the mysterious and unknown 'support' for the concrete thingy which they claim to have received at the Academy exhibition. While ACC continue to try to close the wonderful childrens' Music Centre, to save money, a Director has asked for £300,000 for preparatory legal fees, depite earlier statements that no ACC revenues would be spent on the monstrosity. Few Aberdonians feel able to believe a word Sir Ian Wood says and no wonder!
Alan Craigie
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 12:57 PMIf the Scottish government authorizes TIF funding they must guarantee payment when the additional revenues don't materialise. There no way the Aberdeen taxpayer can afford this folly.
mobocaster
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 10:38 AMThis is maybe the clearest indicitation yet that the proponents of this project really don't have a clue when it comes to to financing it.
wee-scamp
Friday, February 10, 2012 at 09:29 AMIt seems entirely reasonable to me that all those forecasting massive economic benefits from this development should be required to agree that if those benefitis don't actually come about then they should pay for the entire project.
Page 1 of 1
Your view
Please sign in to be able to comment on this story.