| |
Play our new game - Whack The Haggis!!
Union Square Aberdeen Shopping Centre
Information about the Union Square Aberdeen Shopping Centre at Guild Street which is the second largest shopping centre in Scotland
Union Square Aberdeen Shopping Centre can be found at Guild Street next to the bus and railway station and opposite Aberdeen harbour.
Vehicle access is via Market Street. Cars should take the second exit on the right.
Union Square Aberdeen Shops
The following Union Square Aberdeen shops have online facilities:
Marks and Spencer
Burton
Dorothy Perkins
Shops in Union Square
Other shops in Union Square shopping centre on Aberdeen are on the ground floor: Hobby Craft, Instyle - a leather furniture store, Mamas and Papas, JD Sports, Outfit,
Miss Selfridge, Wallis (these are accessible from the ground car park), Boots, Cult, USC, Vero Moda, Jack Jones, Dune, AB10, Zara, Ale, TM Lewin, Paperchase, Faith, Fat Face,
Sole Trader, H&M, Lab Sport, Optiko the opticians, Rox, Ollie and Nic, Azendi, Barrhead Travel, TK Max, Hugo Boss (opening December 2012) Marks and Spencer Food Shop and Costa Coffee.
There is a disabled toilet on the ground floor.
Shops, restaurant and facilities on the first floor of Union Square Aberdeen are: Jurys Inn, Tinderbox espresso bar, Yo! Sushi, Frankie and Benny's, Pizza Hut (opening March 2010), Nando's, Ark Italian restaurant, Exquisite Designs, Urban Kids, Steak and Grill, Handmade Burger Co, Chiquito, Cineworld Cinema, toilets, baby changing rooms, disabled toilet and an area for public phones and cash machines soon to be build. Otherwise the nearest cash point is by the car park entrance to the railway station.
Wagamama noodle restaurant opened in Union Square on the 6 October 2010.
Opening Times Union Square
The opening times of Union Square Aberdeen are:
Shop - Monday to Friday 9am to 8pm, Saturday 9am to 7pm, Sunday and Bank Holidays 11am to 5pm.
Dining - Monday to Sunday 11am to 11pm
We also run the
www.findextrawork.co.uk website where there is information about earning more money from a
range of part time and full time jobs which can be done at home or out and about. Visit for more information.
If you like this page and would like to easily share About Aberdeen with your friends and family please use the social networking buttons below:
Car Parking
At the time of this Union Square Aberdeen review car parking costs were £1 an hour or part of an hour up to 7 hours and then £15 thereafter. After 6pm the car park costs £1. The re are 1700 car parking spaces with many disabled parking bays. The car park is outside on ground level and also on multi storey.
More Aberdeen shopping centres.
Aberdeen Car Valeting
The easiest Aberdeen Car Valeting can be found at Union Square Aberdeen shopping centre on level two of the multi storey car park. This Aberdeen Car
Valeting service uses auto glym products and there is a free air freshener with every auto valet.
A car wash starts from £5-95, valets from £11-95 and car waxes from £5-95.
For more information about this Aberdeen car valet service please visit the SS Autovalet website aberdeencarvalet.com for prices, opening times and how to book an Aberdeen car valet.
Pure Spa Aberdeen
Pure Spa Aberdeen opened in the Unions Square Shopping Centre in May 2011. It offers a range of beauty and relaxation treatments such as manicures, pedicures, massages, sauna and spa treatments. Appointments at Pure Spa Aberdeen range from 25 minutes through to one hour treatments: ideal to fit in between shopping of before a meal at the many restaurants within Unions Square Shopping Centre. For more information about Pure Spa Aberdeen visit the
Spa Aberdeen page.
Union Square Events
Union Square events keeps this Aberdeen shopping centre a pleasure to visit. Whether it is the fish in a tank that you soak your feet in whilst they nibble your dry and hard skin, the bungee leaping rides for children at the atrium, the eye brow shaping and removal service, the mobile gents hairdresser or the remote control racing cars: there is usually Union Square events to interest and please the family. Below are upcoming Union Square events with some of the past Union Square events listed for the interest of AboutAberdeen visitors:
Restaurant Recycle Compost
The cafes, Cineworld cinema and restaurants at Union Square Aberdeen, such as Wagamama ,Ask, Spur Steak and Grill and Giraffe, are involved in a new recycle scheme to turn food scraps to farmers compost with Scotland’s largest organic waste management company, Keenan Recycling. In the last six months the Union Square restaurants recycled 100 tonnes of food waste which local farmers used as fertiliser. This volume can be represented in the equivalent weight of ten double decker buses or 15 male elephants. The waste includes cooked and uncooked meat, fruit and vegetable peelings, left overs and even paper napkins and towels and is converted at New Deer in Aberdeenshire.
Other green activities at Union Square Aberdeen includes a green roof planted with coastal grasses which maintains the thermal dynamics of the building, roof wind catchers which provide a naturally ventilated mall and under floor and water solar heating.
Ryan Manson, general manager at Union Square said:
It is very positive for us to see food that would otherwise go to waste being turned into an organic material that can be used by local farmers. Some of those same local farmers provide our restaurants with produce so it’s fantastic to see the process working full cycle. It is important that every organisation plays their part in helping to reduce landfill and we are very proud to be part of the Keenan Recycling programme.
Grant Keenan, Director for Keenan Recycling said:
Our commercial food waste recycling service has proved successful since we launched it last year and we are delighted to have secured work with all of the retail units at Union Square that are generating food waste on a daily basis. The milestone is a great example of the amount of food which is now being diverted from landfill to be recycled into high nutrient compost. The Scottish Government is set to introduce legislation for mandatory food waste collection from businesses by 2013, therefore Union Square’s commitment to green recycling is setting a superb example to other Scottish businesses.
Aberdeenshire farmer and businessman Andrew Booth of Westfield Farm and Savock Farm at Foveran, near Ellon, has been using the recycled compost on the arable and livestock farms which he manages with his father George. He said:
We are on heavy land and this type of BSI compost will help to open up the land. We are continually seeing the price of fertilisers increase so this is an excellent alternative for farmers which will also get nutrient values into the land. If it’s better for the land, it will improve the soil, improve yields and improve gross margins.
COSMO
A new Union Square restaurant to open in the Spring of 2012 will be the Gourmet Pan-Asian restaurant COSMO which will be its first Scottish branch, creating 50 jobs. This Oriental eatery comes after the demand from shoppers for a Chinese food eatery to open in the popular shopping centre.
COSMO already has 11 restaurants in England and 1 in Wales. Job vacancies for COSMO Aberdeen are anticipated to be announced in January 2012. COSMO chefs create Eastern dishes from the seven countries of China, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Mongolia, Singapore, Vietnam and India and specialise in live cooking demonstrations so customers can watch their food being prepared as part of the dining experience.
Ryan Manson, general manager, Union Square said:
We are constantly looking to improve our customer experience and that means responding to what consumers are telling us, in this case, by bringing a taste of China to the centre. It’s fantastic to add to our existing line-up of 23 restaurants and other eateries and we look forward to welcoming COSMO to Union Square in early 2012.
Union Square also announced the signing of popular baker, Greggs, which has just opened a branch in the east mall area of the centre.
Valentine Poems
Valentine Poems is a welcome addition to Union Square events on Saturday 12 February 2011 when the North East Poet Laureate shares Valentine’s prose with shoppers. Joining Sheena Middleton, the North East’s Poet Laureate will be some of Aberdeen’s finest poets who together will bring soothing sonnets and potent prose to Union Square Aberdeen shoppers. This romantic Union Square event will provide poetic inspiration to love struck shoppers looking to make their mark this Valentine’s Day with a personalised ode.
Sheena Middleton
Sheena Middleton became the Aberdeen and the North East of Scotland Makar in 2009 and was Creative Writing Fellow at Aberdeen University for five years. Sheena Middleton will lend her creative mind to hopeful poets throughout the afternoon at Union Square on a first come, first served basis on Saturday 12 February 2011, just in time for Valentine’s Day on Monday 14 February 2011. During this free Union Square event there will also be exclusive Valentine’s themed readings from a wide range of the North-East’s most talented poets throughout the day.
This exclusive Union Square event of the area’s most celebrated writers in poetry, prose and play script comes just in time for Valentine’s Day and organisers expect the stand to be hugely popular on what is traditionally one of the busiest shopping days of the year as shopper seek romantic gifts for their loved ones.
Of this Valentine poems Union Square event Penny Godfrey, marketing manager for Union Square, said:
Valentine’s Day is the perfect occasion to turn your hand to poetry, so who better to get advice from than a Poet Laureate? Thousands of people will buy a Valentine’s Day card on Saturday. A romantic rhyme, soothing sonnet or virtuous verse is the perfect way to really personalise your message. While we can’t promise you’ll get lucky in love, a few minutes with our poets could make the difference on the most romantic day of the year.
Haworth Hodgkinson, founder and director of the North East Writers Group, said of the Valentine poems event:
We’re looking forward to helping inspire the people of Aberdeen turn their words into romantic prose. We’ll also be performing Valentine’s themed readings from a wide range of the North-East’s most talented poets.
Shoppers at Aberdeen Union Square shopping centre can find the Valentine poems event on the ground floor mall, next to Azendi. The poets will be available from 2pm until 5:30pm to help you write your personal Valentine message. Poetry recitals will take place every half hour from 2pm. For more information about events at Union Square, please visit www.unionsquareaberdeen.com/events
The Union Square developer company is Hammerson and the scheme was first discussed by Aberdeen City Council Councillors in March 2000. Union Square Aberdeen Shopping Centre is being built at an estimated cost of £250 million.
Union Square Aberdeen Shopping Centre should be opened by Autumn 2009.
Union Square Aberdeen opened on Thursday 29 October 2009 at noon. It was officially opened by David Atkins the chief executive of Hammerson. Dancers performed in the main atrium and the Red Hot Chilli Pipers performed. Over 10,000 people visit the shops within the first hour and by 8pm this rose to 58,500. On the first Saturday of opening there were 72,000 shoppers within five hours and this rose to 112,00 by midday. The restaurants say a brisk trade. For example Yo Sushi! served over 3000 customers in the first 3 days of trading and cooked over 12,000 plates of sushi.
The voices for the adverts on STV when Union Square shopping centre opened were provided by Aberdonian actress
Amy Lennox.
To celebrate the opening of Union Square in Aberdeen on Thursday the 30 October 2009 many shops offered free things and special offers. For example TK Maxx offered a free goody bag to their first 500 customers.
The Cineworld cinema complex at Union Square in Aberdeen opened on Friday the 30 October 2009. There are ten digital screens, food shops and a bar at this Cineworld with the ability to show 3D films.
Union Square Aberdeen development is being built on the old Guild Street railway station site that was used as a freight yard. The land also housed an old warehouse.
Once built the Union Square Aberdeen shopping centre will become the second largest shopping centre in Scotland. The Union Square Aberdeen Shopping Centre will have a nine storey 203 bedroom hotel which is hoped to solve some of the hotel accommodation shortages in Aberdeen especially during busy periods such as oil conferences.
Other buildings in the Union Square Aberdeen development includes a ten screen Cineworld cinema and a wide range of retailers centred around a civic square.
Anticipated shops and stores include Marks & Spencer, Next, Clarks, New Look and H&M. A new transport hub will be located at Union Square Aberdeen Shopping Centre. The Union Square Aberdeen Shopping Centre multi storey car park will have 1253 spaces.
The Union Square shopping centre has 700,000 square feet of retail space.
Bursary Scheme
A community bursary scheme is available from Union Square shopping centre Aberdeen with a generous £20,000 available to local charities. This 2011 Community bursary scheme helps to support small community groups and charities in Aberdeen City and Shire. The bursary scheme was first implemented in 2010 and
benefited 13 local groups.
Local charities and not-for-profit organisations are invited to apply for grants of up to £2,000 with the aim of supporting vital community work, across all age groups and backgrounds.
Previous successful applicants to bursary scheme included Lairhillock Primary School who used the donation to build their dream greenhouse. Aberdeen’s Hip Hop School were able to run a summer dance school. Friends of the Reading Bus held poetry classes with local youngsters.
Funding for this community bursary scheme comes from Union Square and donations from retailers throughout the Union Square shopping centre Aberdeen. Retailers also donate their time to support successful applicants with their cause or projects. Retailers who have to date pledged their time include Cineworld, Howards Storage World, Jack and Jones and Vero Moda, Hobbycraft and Handmade burger Co.
Penny Godfrey, marketing manager, Union Square said:
“It is exciting for us to be launching the second community bursary scheme for the Aberdeen City and Shire community. The first community bursary was a huge success and it was fantastic for us to watch the groups make their dream projects a reality from new bike trailers and allotments, to new school books and Tai Chi lessons.
We want to encourage as many people as possible to apply for the funding. Anyone who works for a project that is of value to their local community can get in touch to tell us why it is so worthwhile.
This year, applicants can take advantage of the top tips on our website to learn what makes a strong application and read about previous charities which have benefited from the community bursary scheme.
MC Ajet, director of Aberdeen’s Hip Hop School Scotland and a beneficiary of the first community bursary scheme said:
The community bursary helped us achieve our dream of taking hip hop out to a wider audience. Since the bursary, we’ve seen a number of talented dancers, song-writers and singers join us and we’ve been lucky enough to perform as a group at the AECC.
Aberdeen City Council Enterprise Planning and Infrastructure convener Councillor Kate Dean said:
It's extremely encouraging to see Union Square continuing to support the local community in such a big way. Public finances are extremely tight in the current economic climate so it is very welcome to see the private sector stepping forward to make a valuable contribution. I would urge local groups to make a bid for a share of the bursary because an award of up to £2,000 could make all the difference to a community project.
The community bursary scheme funding is available for projects that fit within the themes of art and culture, education and skills, health and wellbeing or sustainability and the environment. The projects must be of value to and generate tangible benefits for, their local community.
Once applications have been received, a dedicated charity panel will select the projects that will benefit from the scheme. The panel includes Penny Godfrey, marketing manager and Ryan Manson, general manager – Union Square, Tom Moore, City Centre Manager and Michelle Dawson, community manager, Hammerson.
Applications for the community bursary will close on Friday 25 March 2011. For more information please visit:
www.unionsquareaberdeen.com/communitybursary
The twelve local charities and community groups that were granted a share of the 2011 £20,000 Union Square bursary and a pledge of time, mentorship and support services from those who donated are named below. Those who donated money and time included Cineworld, Starbucks, Howards Storage World, Jack and Jones and Vero Moda, HobbyCraft, Sony Centre, SS Autovalet, Deichmann and handmade burger Co. Friend of the centre DJ Kojo will also be donating time as part of the project.
Some of the projects and charities set to benefit from the scheme include the South Deeside under-fives childcare which will start a new project in August to teach young children about growing and harvesting their own vegetables, Danestone primary school which will be putting on a Money Week event to help the children better understand money management, Castlegate Arts Ltd which will use the funding to reward their 120-strong team of volunteers with quarterly social events and the MYPP Employability Café where the bursary will help staff to continue to provide job seeking support sessions for young people.
Penny Godfrey, marketing manager, Union Square said:
We were overwhelmed with responses for our first Community Bursary but this second scheme has received even more applications. It’s fantastic to see such a positive response but this did make selecting the charities especially difficult as we received applications from so many worthy causes.
We are thrilled to be able to continue the bursary scheme and help charities and organisations which do such tremendously important work within their communities. It is also exciting for us to be able to offer even more support this year by donating time from many of our retailers who will each team up with a group to help them deliver their project. We’re very much looking really forward to following everyone’s progress!
Shona Grimmer, Secretary from the South Deeside Under Fives said:
We’re over the moon to be selected for the bursary scheme. This will mean that we can teach young children about the benefits of healthy living, eating and cooking and we’ll be making it as fun as possible thanks to the Union Square Bursary. We may even look at producing a cookery book at the end of the project, which will allow us to raise further funds for the group. We’d like to say a big thank you to Union Square for allowing us the opportunity to do something fun and different with the children.
Other beneficiaries of the bursary include the Broomhill Primary School whose teachers and pupils will be working on an art project to transform the school playground, CLAN Cancer Support which will be running special relaxation sessions for those who use the service and Kittybrewster School which will introduce lunchtime sports and activities clubs to children from regeneration areas.
The 12 charities all presented inspiring projects which met with the Union Square’s four bursary themes of Art and Culture, Education and Skills, Health and Wellbeing and Sustainability and Environment. A dedicated charity panel, made up of Union Square officials, City Centre Manager Tom Moore, and Hammerson’s community manager, Michelle Dawson, were responsible for selecting the charities.
The full list of chosen charities and non for profit organisations are: Friends of Broomhill Primary School PTA, VSA’s Craigton Grove Housing service, Castlegate Arts Ltd, Danestone primary school parent council, Supporting Children in Learning for Life (S.C.I.L.L), Torry Community Council, MYPP Employability Café, South Deeside under-fives, CLAN Cancer Support, Kittybrewster School, Mid Deeside Ltd,- Deeside Community Transport Scheme and Garioch Area Partnership (gAp).
Guild Square
Though the developers, Hammerson, want to call the shopping centre Union Square, Aberdeen City Council want the Guild Street development named Guild Square
to avoid any confusion with it being off Union Street. The Aberdeen Councillors gave the Guild Street development the postal address of Guild Square in June 2008.
The name Guild Square comes in honour of Doctor William Guild who was a former Principal of King's College, Aberdeen.
In June 2008 it was announced that the hotel operating in Union Square would be run by Jurys Inns. It will be an eight storey hotel on Guild Street with a restaurant, public bar, cafe and conference facilities.
Other restaurants for Union Square could include Nando's and the Italian restaurant Ask that specialises in pasta and pizza combination meals. It is also thought that Mexican restaurant Chiquitos and American and Italian diner Frankie and Benny's may expand from the Beach to Union Square shopping centre in Aberdeen city.
The official Union Square Aberdeen website is www.unionsquareaberdeen.com and is still under construction.
Hammerson, the developers of Union Square Aberdeen, donated rail tracks from the site which was a former tram and train depot and goods yard to the Royal Deeside Railway Preservation Society in 2008. This is put to use in the restoration of the Banchory to Crathes line.
Jobs Union Square
Jobs in Union Square were given a boost in 2009 when the developer, Hammerson, announced that they will be working with the Jobs For U programme and training scheme which helps to train people for the hospitality trade so that people can work in hotels, bars, restaurants, shops and gyms.
The Union Square shopping centre in Aberdeen brings many first shops to the area and even to Scotland. For example the Handmade Burger Co is the first to open in Scotland at Union Square bringing new jobs to the area as well as some delicious burgers.
| | |
