FirstGroup, Aberdeen
FirstGroup carves its name into the granite
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FirstGroup, the UK's largest surface transportation company, has reaffirmed its commitment to Aberdeen by announcing plans to develop its new £10m global headquarters in the city.
The decision will mean 140 additional jobs in the city for the company, which was born in Aberdeen and takes over the Scotrail franchise on October 17. The 25,000 square foot building on the banks of the River Don at Woodside will be adjacent to a new state-of-the-art depot for the city's fleet of 195 vehicles. It will bring together on one site the group's world-wide headquarters operation, shared services for all of First's 22 UK bus companies, four rail franchises and the FirstAberdeen operations.First currently employs 700 of its 62,000 world-wide employees in Aberdeen. The company has a turnover of £2.5bn, has 9500 buses in the UK, and carries more than one million students across the US and Canada on its fleet of 18,000 yellow school buses. It also operates rail passenger and freight services across the UK and is bidding for the East coast mainline contract.
"It establishes and anchors our company here and gives us a long-term platform to continue to develop the business. It brings more jobs to the city and is a fantastic opportunity to put something back and confirm our attachment to Aberdeen," said Moir Lockhead, chief executive. "We have looked at many locations throughout the UK. After considering all the options, we have chosen Aberdeen as our location of preference for the new world-wide headquarters."
The new headquarters are planned for a 12-acre site which is occupied by football pitches owned by Aberdeen Lads' Club, which says they are surplus to requirements. The proposal will doubtless be controversial because the location is in greenbelt and the access road will link to one of Aberdeen's traffic blackspots, the Haudigan roundabout. George Mair, managing director of FirstAberdeen, admitted that he "almost fell off my seat" when he was told of the proposal, but studies had convinced him it would be an ideal location.
Mair said buses were gone from the depot before traffic had started to build up in the morning and returned after the evening rush. Donald Murdoch, Aberdeen City Council's corporate director of city development, said there was delight that the company had underlined its commitment to Aberdeen and stressed the application would be subject to the full planning process. First Group, he said, "has demonstrated it has a wealth of skills and knowledge, which it has been able to apply to different markets, bringing additional economic benefits in terms of jobs and investment. As such it is a great model for other companies looking to open up new markets".
He said that as the application is on a greenfield site, it represented a departure from the development plan and would be processed as such. "The application will be advertised as a development plan departure and a project of public concern, with representations invited from the public and other interested parties. As it would represent a departure, it may be necessary to hold a public hearing as part of the planning process." First, which will hold a public meeting to explain its plans, hopes approval can be gained by May next year and the development completed by December 2006. More than £1m has been earmarked for landscaping, including "living green walls" to provide screening.
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