Euan McColm: Is there any hope for future of Woolmanhill Hospital?

Press and Journal

a day ago

The ongoing dereliction of Woolmanhill Hospital is grim to witness.
From the outside, the building maintains its majesty but – as online film clips have shown – its interiors are crumbling.
Like a metaphor for the city of Aberdeen, itself, the Woolmanhill maintains a brave face during difficult times but, behind that facade, all is not well.
When the NHS moved out of the building – home to the original Aberdeen Royal Infirmary – a decade ago, there were exciting plans for its redevelopment.
The A-listed building – which has been in the hands of CAF Properties since the NHS moved out – was going to become a 102-bedroom luxury resort but those proposals were ditched in 2021.
Since then, according to the city council, the building's owners have been looking for new ways of bringing the building back to life. Delay in finding new purpose for Woolmanhill site The future of the Woolmanhill Hospital site has had several false dawns. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson.
Fighting the instinct to be unreasonable, I can understand the reasons behind the delay.
First – and nobody living in Aberdeen needs to be reminded of this – the city has changed dramatically over the past decade.
As recently as 2014, Aberdeen was to be considered the jewel in the Scottish crown. During the independence referendum, then SNP leader Alex Salmond promised that North Sea oil would create a strong foundation for economic good times. A Yes vote would mean a glorious future.
Now, the oil and gas industry is treated as an embarrassment by the Scottish Government, as something to be run down and forgotten.
The second perfectly acceptable explanation for the delay in developing the site is the disruption caused by the Coronavirus pandemic. Life may have returned to normality since the vaccination roll out four years ago but the financial hangover of months of lockdowns lingers. Development can't be 'wished into existence'
Across Scotland's cities are examples of architecture so grand, so downright spectacular, that nobody (unless they were, say, a member of the Saudi royal family) could fund their construction today.
To build something comparable – in terms of materials and sheer craftsmanship – to the Woolmanhill hospital, today, would be prohibitively expensive.
This being so, it's doubly sad to see the place slowly fall apart. Windows are smashed and boarded up on the derelict property. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson.
Of course, reality doesn't care about the desire to see the building brought to life. If there is no viable project, then one cannot simply be wished into existence.
But nor should the building remain abandoned and unloved, left to decay.
If developers cannot find a solution then the government should step in.
There have been calls for the place to be turned into a medical museum which certainly makes a certain kind sense. Where better to display the marvels of medicine, to tell the stories of pioneers in the field, than a grand hospital building.
But, realistically, would such a museum prove to be such a smash that it justified the spending of tens of millions in its development? I have my doubts.
Perhaps the answer to the question of what to do with Woolmanhill is rather less glamorous and exciting than a swanky resort. Perhaps it – and other empty buildings – hold part of the solution to our ongoing housing crisis.
Is there a creative partnership to be struck between public and private sectors to bring Woolmanhill back to life? Could housing be the answer for derelict Woolmanhill Hospital?
With young people priced out of the housing market in the city and across Aberdeenshire, pressure on existing housing association stock is reaching intolerable levels.
Could the city council, the Scottish Government, and the developers work together to redevelop the site, turning it into flats and townhouses, ensuring a proportion fall into the category of 'affordable' and are made available to first-time buyers?
Given the drop in footfall across Scotland's cities, it's difficult to see how a place the size of Woolmanhill could easily be converted into a commercial venue. What would it contain? Shops and concessions that nobody will use? Pop-up restaurants that don't last a week and bring little to the local economy?
People, however, will always need somewhere to live… Graffiti adorns the outside of Woolmanhill Hospital. Image: Kenny Elrick/DC Thomson.
Last week, a spokeswoman for Aberdeen City Council said that talks with CAF, headed up by property tycoon Charlie Ferrari, were 'ongoing'
However, both the local authority and Mr Ferrari remain tight-lipped as to what these talks actually involve.
Time truly is of the essence, here. With each passing month, the unused building falls further into disrepair. The longer the delay in taking action, the less viable redevelopment of the building will become.
There is no simple answer to the question of what to do with Woolmanhill but unless one is found, and quickly, the building will end up past saving.