It was nine years ago this month that my ears and eyes lit up as council chiefs set out their detailed vision for Dundee’s Waterfront to me.
“In buildings of up to six or seven storeys, the ground floors will be ‘alive’ with shops, bars and restaurants – making the Waterfront a destination in the day and at night,” my story read.
“Other businesses will then occupy commercial, hotel and office space, bringing about 4,800 jobs to the area.”
I’d been in my Evening Telegraph council reporter role a matter of weeks.
It couldn’t have been a more interesting time.
Within months, the old railway station and Olympia had been demolished – later replaced by sparkly new buildings and the spectacular V&A Dundee.
The completion of Slessor Gardens, which quickly became a major events venue, followed soon after.
New offices opened on Site 6 – perhaps less inspiring than the rest, but progress nonetheless.
Locals donned their sunglasses to welcome a new urban beach.
And proposals emerged to transform Site 2, currently home to the Yeaman Shore car park, into ‘Studio Dundee‘ – featuring workshop spaces, apartments and retail units.
Dundee needs to finish what it started at the Waterfront
I had stepped into an editing role by then, but it was still the job of my team to report on all of this.
We were never stuck for Waterfront stories: Dundee was alive with new and exciting developments.
Then everything seemed to stop.
We can’t pretend Covid, and the economic fallout from Brexit and Ukraine, haven’t got in the way.
But with ideas now emerging for other parts of Dundee – featuring suggestions like the Wellgate’s demolition – it makes you question how focused we are on the task already in hand.
Of course the Wellgate end of town is a major concern; large areas of that shopping centre are now empty with no apparent prospect of revival.
We need to discuss its long-term future.
But what happens there is a consideration for another day.
Dundee needs to finish what it started.
Dundee Waterfront – some successes but still a lot of empty spaces
In the interests of fairness, I should point out that the Dundee Waterfront redevelopment – once valued at £1 billion – has not stood entirely still in the last few years.
Slessor Gardens is now a regular concert venue and will soon host the returning Winterfest, with its inevitable economic boost.
Ideas for an e-sports arena have emerged and we’ve even had suggestions for a new concert venue.
But the events are temporary – and the permanent bits still seem a long way away.
Dundee Waterfront remains largely a building site without the building work.
Property agent Ryden is still marketing seven sizable Waterfront plots to would-be developers. That’s a lot of land.
Due to oft-cited “commercial confidentiality”, the public will never get told exactly how much interest there has been in these sites from investors.
Maybe there’s been progress behind the scenes – but the lack of physical work suggests otherwise.
The aforementioned Site 2 is among those still available. Studio Dundee has never come to fruition and it remains a car park.
It’s one of the smallest plots available. If we can’t shift that, is there any hope for the others?
Will next nine years be more productive than the last nine?
The Waterfront transformation has always been described as a 30-year project, running until 2031.
That leaves nine years – the same amount of time since I wrote that article – for the city to achieve its ambitions.
Too much time and money has been invested in the Waterfront for it not to be a success.
So never mind what Dundee might look like in 2050.
Let’s focus on 2031 first, or the Waterfront will never be “alive” with people and businesses.
It’s struggling for breath at times, as it is.
Bryan Copland leads The Courier’s Live News team.
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