A series of shops and attractions are set to open in Tayside and Fife in 2025.
Locals can look forward to everything from new schools, a department store and a sports bar to a recreation centre and supermarket.
It comes after 2024 brought the opening of the £27 million Perth Museum and Dundee’s new M&S superstore.
The Courier has taken a look at some of the major openings residents in Dundee, Angus, Perth and Kinross and Fife can look forward to in the next 12 months – if all goes to plan.
Dundee Frasers
Work to turn the former Debenhams unit into a Frasers department store started nearly a year ago.
Although it was initially hoped work would be completed by mid-September, the development is now due to open in late spring 2025.
The development will see Sports Direct and USC close their existing shops at the Overgate to move into the three-storey department store.
There will be a beauty offering on the ground level, with Evans Cycles and Game also having sections inside.
New Overgate shops
As well as Frasers, several other shops are set to open at the Overgate in 2025.
These include:
Mango
The Spanish fashion chain revealed plans to open a store in Dundee’s Overgate Shopping Centre earlier this year.
The retailer is due to move into the former Frankie and Benny’s restaurant in 2025.
Mango says the store will feature the Mediterranean-inspired store concept, “New Med”, which showcases the brand’s “spirit and freshness”.
Flannels
Fashion retailer Flannels has submitted £1.1 million plans to open a store in the former Argos unit.
The chain – which is owned by Frasers Group – is known for selling luxury items from brands including Prada, Christian Louboutin and Tom Ford.
An exact opening date has yet to be confirmed but it is expected to open sometime in 2025.
Clarks
Clarks shoe shop has announced it will return to Dundee in 2025, two years after its departure from the city.
Clarks has now signed a lease to move into an empty unit on the second floor.
The new shop, formerly home to Burger King, is opposite Starbucks.
The store is expected to open in April.
East End Community Campus, Dundee
The East End Community Campus in Dundee is a merger between Craigie High School and Braeview Academy and is expected to open in August 2025.
Morgan Academy headteacher Jonny Lothian was appointed as campus leader of the new £100m “super school” in October.
The campus, which will have capacity for about 1,900 pupils, will include a music and drama centre, cafe and library.
There will also be a variety of sports facilities, including floodlit all-weather pitches, a fitness suite and a dance studio.
Cross Tay Link Road and Destiny Bridge
The Cross Tay Link Road will connect the A9 to the A93 to Blairgowrie and the A94 to Coupar Angus.
It is due to be completed by spring 2025.
The road will be called the New Kingsway, a name chosen by schoolchildren.
The project includes the Destiny Bridge, which will carry travellers off the A9 north of Perth and across the River Tay.
The Cross Tay Link Road is the biggest infrastructure project ever undertaken in Perth and Kinross.
Monifieth High School
Monifieth’s new £66.5 million high school campus is scheduled for completion in July 2025.
It incorporates an early years facility and swimming pool alongside the 1,200-pupil replacement high school.
Angus councillors were told the project is on schedule and on budget in a progress report in September.
Pupils will move out of the current Monifieth High in July before demolition takes place as part of the year-long second phase of the project.
New Picture House, St Andrews
Tiger Woods and Justin Timberlake’s St Andrews sports bar could be open by summer 2025.
The T-Squared Social venue – in the New Picture House – will be a “family-friendly cinema, dining and entertainment offering”, according to those behind the project.
The venue will include a restaurant and public bar, with one cinema screen retained for full-time use and another to show live sports and to host films.
An official opening date is yet to be confirmed.
Pitlochry Tesco
Tesco is planning to open its first supermarket in Pitlochry and may welcome customers by May 2025.
Perth and Kinross Council granted planning permission for a supermarket – originally planned to be a Sainsbury’s – in 2011.
That shop was never built – however, according to a sales brochure from Sheridan Keane, the Tesco store has an opening date of May 2025 and a building warrant was also approved last June.
Blairgowrie Recreation Centre
The long-awaited Blairgowrie Recreation Centre is scheduled to open in early 2025.
The £36 million venue is scheduled to open five years later than expected – at twice the original cost.
It will replace the existing 40-year-old centre on the campus of Blairgowrie High School.
The project will boast a mix of indoor and outdoor facilities – including a swimming pool, games halls, dance studio and all-weather pitch.
The Courier has already taken a look inside the centre as the finishing touches are put in place.
Seaton House, St Andrews
The new luxury St Andrews hotel Seaton House is planning to open in early 2025.
The hotel, formerly The Scores, has been closed for refurbishment since October 2021.
Operators Valor Hospitality Partners describe it as a “five-star boutique hotel”.
It will contain 42 bedrooms, including five suites and three junior suites.
The hotel will also have two restaurants, a bar and an outdoor terrace.
Dundee Waterfront offices
A new Dundee Waterfront office block is set to be completed by April 2025 – after which it could open to workers.
James Thomson House is the latest development on Site 6, part of the wider £1 billion redevelopment of the Waterfront.
A tenant for the new offices has yet to be announced but council leader Mark Flynn says it will provide “a fantastic building for someone to be working in”.
Conversation