The Aberdeen City Region Deal is the agreement between the UK Government and the Scottish Government with Aberdeen City Council, Aberdeenshire Council and Opportunity North East (ONE) as one delivery mechanism for the Region’s economic vision which focuses on transformational investment supporting the evolution of the region's key sectors, sustainable business growth and creating green jobs for the future. It follows the signing of a Heads of Terms Agreement in January 2016.
The Deal stimulates diversification of the economy into new areas of activity and markets through programme areas of: Innovation; Digital; Transport; and Inclusive Economic Growth.
GOVERNANCE
The Aberdeen City Region Deal Joint Committee drives and governs the implementation of the City Region Deal programme and its links to the Regional Economic Strategy. It works to maximise the economic benefits of the Deal. It is made up from three Aberdeen City Council Councillors, three Aberdeenshire Council Councillors and three Opportunity North East Board Members.
ANNUAL REPORT
The 2021/22 Annual Report produced for the Joint Committee and UK and Scottish Governments, highlights the continued investment by industry and regional partners taking the deal value to over £1Billion.
Details of all the projects in the scope of the City Region Deal can be found in more detail within the annual report and at each projects website below.
Seedpod
SeedPod is a £21million investment in the food and drink industry to create a centre of excellence for manufacturing and production in North East Scotland that will deliver regional and national growth ambitions.
CityFibre Network
"Going up from 33 to 900 Mbps will make such a huge difference to my working day!" ~ Local resident
Digital Connectivity
75% of City residents have access to CityFibre with at least four ISP’s, stimulating the market, and driving down costs, making good connections accessible and affordable
BioHub
The new-build project is a flagship addition to Aberdeen’s Foresterhill Health Campus, one of Europe’s largest integrated clinical, research and teaching sites for life sciences and medicine
The Deal
The Aberdeen City Region Deal has hosted 6 student placements, 7 apprenticeships, 17 Internships, 5 Career Ready students and 2 UK Government Kickstart schemes
Full Fibre project
In 2021/22 the Deal Full Fibre project won the Social Value Category for procurement in the “Go Awards” (Social Value Category)
Transport
Development of proposals for innovative transport pilot projects aimed at providing inclusive transport connectivity, including Transport Mobility Hubs supported by Digital Applications
BioHub
The BioHub main construction phase provides more than 100 jobs in the city and creates inspiring career pathways for young people
NZTC
TechX start-ups have raised £28m in investment since graduating from the accelerator programme to continue to accelerate their tech/business
Aberdeen South Harbour
The Port of Aberdeen’s expansion project at Aberdeen South Harbour will add 1,400m in quayside length and accommodate vessels of up to 300metres.
Aberdeen’s Harbour Extension “Aberdeen South Harbour” will be a unique facility due to its distinctive blend of scale, location and connectivity. Along with the North Harbour, it will represent an exceptional opportunity for commercial growth and diversification which is more important than ever given the impact of COVID-19 and the acceleration of energy transition. The expansion project is important not only to the local economy but also regionally and nationally to allow for economic recovery and prosperity.
BioHub is a capital funding project from the UK Government and Scottish Government through the Aberdeen City Region Deal.
ONE has committed an additional £3.6 million of funding over seven years to operate the hub and deliver bespoke growth support activity to the sector. The project has been developed by the ONE Life Sciences sector board which includes life sciences business leaders, the University of Aberdeen, Robert Gordon University, and NHS Grampian.
SeedPod, a project led by Opportunity North East, is a beacon for the sector’s entrepreneurial spirit and ambition. The £21million industry growth hub to be built at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC) campus at Craibstone, on the outskirts of Aberdeen, will support the sector to evolve and embrace new opportunities. It's combination of facilities, infrastructure, support programmes and connections will make the region a leader in low carbon food production and environmental sustainability, process and product innovation, premium market development and create high-skill green jobs.
In 2021 the OGTC rebranded as the Net Zero Technology Centre. New name, same purpose!
The new name more accurately reflects its purpose and reinforces its technology vision; A vision that aims to reduce emissions from existing facilities, unlocks the full potential of an integrated energy system, propels the energy industry towards a digital, automated future and accelerates clean energy start-ups to build a thriving supply chain.
The Aberdeen City Region Deal is supporting an increased delivery of ultrafast fibre connectivity. Projects include the city network extension to connect all remaining Aberdeen City Council’s corporate sites to fibre, as well as to extend the duct network for traffic management purposes. There is also the full fibre project, connecting up 189 City, Aberdeenshire and NHS sites to gigabit capacity connectivity. These projects help to attract commercial investment to the City Region for improved digital connectivity.
The Strategic Transport Appraisal is taking a 20 year strategic view of the transport implications of the investment unlocked by the Deal across all modes of transport including road and rail. The appraisal is supporting decision-making regarding the development and prioritisation of future transport investment in the region, informing regional investment plans for transport infrastructure, local and regional spatial planning decisions, and national strategies and programmes of work. Two streams of work have been progressed to date: The ongoing development and appraisal of options leading to the development of the Regional Transport Strategy; and the update of the region’s transport and land use model.
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