City council split over plan to flatten old HQ

ABERDEEN City councillors narrowly voted through controversial plans to demolish their former headquarters in the city – despite a warning that the move could lead to an Accounts Commission investigation.

The 22-19 vote in favour of razing the “eyesore” multi-storey St Nicholas House to the ground led to a rift within the Liberal Democrat-SNP administration.

The 17-storey tower block, built in 1967, has lain empty since the council moved to its new headquarters across the road in Broad Street to the refurbished Marischal College.

Callum McCaig, the administration’s SNP leader, warned a meeting of the full council that a move to sanction the immediate destruction of the building was opening it up to “all sorts of trouble” with the Accounts Commission. He argued demotion should only go ahead after a “best value” exercise and marketing test to identify potential interest from developers.

He said: “I have no doubt that if we agree to knock that building down it will be a popular move – but it will be populism with a price tag. That price tag will be both in money and in the reputation of this council.”