Bon Accord Centre Aberdeen retail buildings, Northeast Scotland stores, St Nicholas Centre shops

Bon Accord Centre Aberdeen

Bon Accord Centre Aberdeen Shopping Mall – Northeast Scotland Retail Building Extension: Architecture Design

post updated 6 September 2024

Bon Accord Centre Extension

Date built: 2009

Architects: Archial

Address: George Street, Aberdeen AB25 1HZ

Phone: 01224 647470

Archial Architects, one of the largest architecture practices in Scotland and the UK, has completed a £12 million extension to the Bon Accord Centre in Aberdeen.

Bon Accord Centre Aberdeen Shopping

The Bon Accord Centre extension, undertaken on behalf of The Scottish Retail Property Partnership, amounted to some 50,000 sq ft of retail space together with some 300 car parking spaces.

photo 1990 © Tony Freeman

Murray Restrup, Senior Architect at Archial, said about the Bon Accord building, “The brief for this project was to maximise the retail space for a single chain store tenant whilst increasing car parking for the centre as a whole.

Retail centre interior – central atrium:

photo 1990 © Tony Freeman

The project also involved the creation of new landlord facilities and the re-configuration of service access to integrate the new retail space into the existing retail centre. Provision was made for services and access to facilitate the tenant’s fit out.” See www.bonaccordaberdeen.com

photos 1990 © Tony Freeman

The tenant, fashion retailer Next, opened its shop in this Aberdeen city centre mall to the public earlier this month.

The Archial Group Plc employs 170 staff in Scotland, operating from offices in Edinburgh, Glasgow, Aberdeen, Dundee and Inverness.

Bon Accord Centre
Date: 1989/90
Architects: Jenkins & Marr

photographs 1990 © Tony Freeman

This mall is the second-largest shopping centre complex in the city. The retail development was constructed as two separate entities: the St. Nicholas Shopping Centre in 1985 and the adjacent eponymous mall in 1990.

The centre is split into two buildings which join the shopping streets of George Street and Union Street. It has three floors extending to 630,000 sq ft (59,000 m2). Parking is attached with around 1700 spaces.

This shopping mall was built in a serpentine shape to maximize shop unit frontage. It is covered by a barrel-vaulted glazed roof with a 90 ft (27 m) high glazed dome.

The former St. Nicholas Centre has a more rectilinear design. It features an interesting walkable roof with hard and soft landscaping. Its first-floor entrances to some businesses were rarely used.

The northern entrance of the centre is located across the street from a former John Lewis & Partners department store, and the store is connected to the centre via a bridge on the first floor. The John Lewis department store opened in 1989 and closed 31 years later in 2020.

Work began on the St. Nicholas Centre in October 1983, when the foundation stone was laid. It was officially opened two years later in October 1985 with total retail space covering 96,000 sq ft (8,900 m2).

Entrance to the shopping mall:

photo from 2006 © Adrian Welch

Address: 25 George St, Aberdeen AB25 1HZ, Scotland, UK

Phone: 01224 647470

Scottish Shopping Mall

Union Square Aberdeen – major Northeast Scotland retail building design by BDP Architects

image from architect

Another Scottish Shopping Centre by Jenkins & Marr Architects: Buchanan Galleries

Aberdeenshire Property Design

Aberdeen City Centre Masterplan
Bon Accord Centre + St Nicholas Centre + St Nicholas House
Masterplan for £200m development aimed at regenerating Aberdeen city centre

image from architect