Former Aberdeen City Council HQ St Nicholas House put on the market

The site of Aberdeen City Council's former headquarters has been put on the market.

More than 1,000 council staff vacatedSt Nicholas Housefor the newly-refurbished Marischal College building across the road last summer.

The 14-storey building, which was erected in 1968, is to be demolished.

The council's enterprise, planning and infrastructure director Gordon McIntosh said: "This is a truly unique opportunity for a developer."

He said it was "arguably the city's best development site at a time when the local economy is one of the most dynamic in the UK and several other exciting projects are also in the pipeline".

'Keen interest'

Mr McIntosh said: "There are not many development opportunities left in the city centre and this is a fantastic one which is at the heart of everything we are doing in Aberdeen."

Commercial property agent Ryden has been appointed to market the site on behalf of the local authority.

Bill Duguid, Ryden's managing partner in Aberdeen, said: "We are delighted to be offering such an exciting development opportunity at a time when the local economy is also benefiting from the announcement of some very exciting projects and significant new investment by the energy sector.

"We expect keen interest from a wide range of local and national developers who hopefully will bring some imaginative proposals for the development of this very important site."