Aberdeen councillors back £25m urban village resort

ABERDEEN City Council today gave the go ahead for a £25 million urban village resort to be built on the outskirts of the city.

• £35m plans for urban village resort on outskirts of Aberdeen given go ahead

• Resort will include five storey hotel, business facilities, restaurants, bars and luxury leisure centre

The urban village - the first to be developed in Scotland by hotel group De Vere - is to be built at the Prime Four business park at Kingswells.

The hotel group has leased the site from the park’s developers, Drum Property Group.

The resort will include a five storey 148 bedroom hotel, business and conferencing facilities, restaurants, bars, and a luxury health spa and leisure club, including a gym and swimming pool.

Councillor Ramsay Milne, the convener of the city council’s development management sub committee, said: “This application is further evidence of Aberdeen’s continuing ability to attract investment and flourish despite the recession affecting business development and growth elsewhere in the UK, and is particularly notable as De Vere’s first business venture in Scotland.”

He continued: “The hotel development will add a high-quality, attractive and well-designed building to a growing business park, where there will undoubtedly be a need for good facilities.”

Councillor Milne added: “This is not just a hotel complex that’s just for business, it’s a hotel complex that’s providing for the community as well.”

The resort is expected to open for business in mid-2014 and will create around 120 permanent jobs.

Robert Cook, chief executive of De Vere Urban Village Resorts, said: “We obviously welcome the council’s approval to enable De Vere to establish Scotland‘s first Urban Resort at Prime Four.

“As a local to the area, I am personally delighted to have the opportunity to provide something which I’m sure will be attractive to the business and leisure sectors as well as local residents and the north east community in general.

“This is a hugely significant investment for our group and we are confident it will complement the existing developments taking place at the park as well as the additional amenities and facilities planned for future phases.”

Drum Director Graeme Bone commented: “Being able to attract a blue chip hotel group such as De Vere further emphasises Prime Four’s attractiveness as a world class business location and there is no doubt that the park will play a major role in generating economic activity for Aberdeen and help provide jobs stability in the city for many years to come.”

A spokesman for the developers said: “Economic consultants have estimated that Phase one alone of the business park will sustain around 1,200 jobs and be worth £300 million annually to the local economy. “