New Community Garden for the Market Square!

By Dawn Black on 11/11/2020

The Stonehaven Business Association and Stonehaven Town Centre Improvement Group are delighted to have been successful in gaining funding to create a new community garden in the centre of Stonehaven!

The funding comes from the Aberdeenshire Council Phoenix Fund (£10,000) and the Scottish Government Town Centres Fund (£48,698) enabling the group to move forward with their project to create a civic space in the form of a community garden at the North Pend of the Market Square Buildings beside the Granite Fountain, providing a focal point in the centre of the town for locals and visitors alike to come into and stay in the town centre.

We have been seriously lacking in a civic space within the town centre itself since the Market Square was given over to car parking in the 1980s and now, in 2020/21 we wish to give a little bit of it back to the people of Stonehaven! A place to meet and relax, to take a tranquil moment in the centre of town.

The project is very much a local vision with Nikki Ritchie of Hyve Architects having produced a wonderful design which takes its’ influence from the curves of swinging fireballs and the planting by the Stonehaven Horizon Group echoing this with a vibrant orange, red and yellow colour palette.  The works will be undertaken by a local building contractor. The Community Council, Stonehaven Town Partnership and Men’s Shed have all also been involved in bring the project together. By Stonehaven, for Stonehaven!

Project co-ordinator, Dawn Black of the SBA and Stunning Stonehaven would love to hear what you think of the garden proposal and is calling for letters of support to strengthen the project’s planning application. Email her on stunningstonehaven@gmail.com .

Image: Concept drawing for the Phoenix Garden by Nikki Ritchie, Hyve Architects