The people of Dundee have been given a pledge that the hotels, offices and homes proposed for Dundee’s waterfront will be held to the highest of design standards.
They will eventually come to surround the centrepieces of the city’s massively ambitious regeneration, but Dundee City Council has promised they will not be built at any cost.
Director of city development, Mike Galloway, said all building projects would be carefully scrutinised to ensure they add positively to the waterfront.
He spoke out after being asked for assurances by Broughty Ferry’s Conservative councillor Derek Scott, who said the people of Dundee wanted to ensure the key projects were not devalued.
He said: “Lots of progress is being made and you cannot help but be impressed with the waterfront project.
“One thing people always ask me, however, is whether the additional sites earmarked for development will be complementary.
“People want to know that they will neither dominate nor take away from the main developments.”
The V&A at Dundee will give the city an iconic building that it hopes will work to pull visitors in from all over the world.
Another major element of the development will be the Slessor Gardens, a wide expanse of open space and innovative community gardens.
Together they will be the focal points of the city’s massively ambitions regeneration but they will be far from alone.
Companies are queuing up to invest in Dundee’s regenerated waterfront, with negotiations to build two new luxury hotels already under way.
In all, the council has said discussions are at an advanced stage to redevelop five sites on the waterfront and anticipates around £400 million of additional private investment in the area by 2030, on top of the £600m that has already been committed.
As well as the hotels, which will be built on Riverside Esplanade and Black Watch Parade, proposed new developments include offices, private rented accommodation and a creative industries hub.
Flats and a public sector office hub could be created on Thomson Avenue (West), while a plot belonging to the Tay Road Bridge Joint Board currently home to the bridge office could be developed to create a replacement office, restaurant, offices, car parking and flats.
Mr Galloway said: “All the proposals for the waterfront will have to go through the normal planning process and come to the council’s development committee.
“Developers have been issued with design briefs that contain detailed statements about the quality of design that we require.”