What is the biggest challenge in the next five years?
Barney Crockett, leader, Aberdeen city council
A huge demand for business property and a huge availability of jobs compared with anywhere else in Europe. We will have a pretty imminent challenge in providing the housing that can meet that need, and then behind that, there are a number of infrastructural issues.
Mark Fleming, investment director/joint head of Scottish region, Savills
The perception is that ?Aberdeen is very reliant on oil, so there’s probably a desire to diversify the economy. The rising cost of property and staff is going to price diversified industries out of the market. That’s a challenge that has ?to be met.
Liam Smyth, membership director, Aberdeen and Grampian chamber of commerce
Bringing enough skilled ?workers to this region. And a barrier to that is the perception of the affordability of housing. We need housing development in the right kind of zoned ?areas.
Michael Spence, partner, real estate, Bond Dickinson
Keeping property grounded and not letting it get carried away as it did seven years ago. The private rented sector is really in vogue at the minute, but it is demonstrative of a real requirement for the property industry to just be a bit more imaginative.
Carol Benzie, managing director, Aberdeen International Airport
We had our busiest ever year in 2013, and 24% growth in the past three years; Aberdeen is an attractive venue for global business and leisure travellers. But you’re sitting in a taxi for 45 minutes to get out of the ?airport, so infrastructure is a primary concern.
Stuart Oag, director, ?Drum Property Group
We operate in an environment where we need to be able to compete with large cities in the UK and further afield. If Aberdeen wants to continue its economic vibrancy, it must ensure a good-quality supply ?of housing land and employment land, especially ?for blue-chip organisations to locate to.
Was the city ever considered as a location for the exhibition centre?
BC: It is the only one in Europe that the local authority owns and runs and it costs us a fortune. Successful exhibition centres are next to airports and the strongest bids we’ve seen are close to the airport. We project that with a much bigger usage, there will be overspill to the city centre.
What will the effect of the referendum?
BC: A “yes” vote would be bad for business. This is the only place in the world of oil where the government doesn’t count: 50% of the oil work here isn’t in the UK North Sea and that will increase. That is threatened by a referendum; we wouldn’t seem as open to business.
The dearth of grade-A office space: myth or reality?
SO: If there’s an undersupply of office space, the commercial development sector will respond. But it will respond too late and it will oversupply. The bigger challenge is making sure we have a supply of employment land – in the city centre and in the established periphery locations in the north, west and south. What we’ve found in developing our projects at Prime Four and the Seafood Park for EnQuest is that the real estate drivers for these businesses are unique to each business.
Is Aberdeen feeling positive?
CB: The business case for the new terminal development at the airport was about 18 months in the making. When we took that business case to our shareholders, who are from Qatar and China and America, many of them didn’t really know where Aberdeen was – they didn’t understand its economic buoyancy. But we portrayed a positive message and they’ve now put their faith in Aberdeen.
MF: My agency colleagues in Glasgow and Edinburgh are busy trying to find tenants. My equivalent colleagues in Aberdeen are trying to find properties to put tenants into. You go out to Westhill and the development that’s happening there in such a short time is a great story.
