Sit Doon in Bloom
Our beautiful ‘Granite Mile’ is becoming brighter.
As a community we have been brightening the street for the past two years and we are excited to take our next step towards a greener and more vibrant Union Street.
The Granite Mile will see Union Street play host to an exciting array of planters and benches making the Garden Mile!
We have been working away in the background with Aberdeen City Council, makmono and HMP Grampian Community Workshop to bring this project to life. We want to hear from you. Tell us your thoughts and help us make Union Street an exemplary high street.
The Garden Mile Project has 5 key aims:
1 - Improving Air Quality, Biodiversity, and access to Greenspace.
2 - Improving the experience of Active Travel, Walkability and Accessibility.
3 - Fostering a positive perception of Union Street that demonstrates care.
4 - Engaging the community to be involved in activities that foster a sense of pride.
5 - Creating a pleasant, safe and vibrant place to spend time that respects Aberdeen’s Heritage.
Aberdeen has coined the name the ‘Silver City’, due to the mica within the granite that causes the buildings to ‘sparkle’ in the sun. A combination of the materiality, the renowned overcast skies and reputation unfairly gives a perception that the city lacks colour and vibrancy.
By introducing planting and seating, the project improves wellbeing, supports biodiversity by creating B-Lines, and makes Union Street more attractive and comfortable for residents and visitors alike. The Garden Mile project helps create a greener, more welcoming city centre that encourages people to spend time outdoors.
A Friendly And Accessible City Centre
As it stands, Union Street only has two benches on the street. Walking or Wheeling Union Street can be a challenge for some and very transitional for others. When was the last time you stopped and spent time on the street itself?
Our goal is to make Union Street a place to stop and dwell. Accessible and welcoming to all, we want you to be able to walk the mat once again. Meet with friends and sit in the sun (when it's out, that is!).
A City Centre Garden With Improved Air Quality
The Garden Mile’s main aim is to improve greenery, biodiversity and air quality in Aberdeen’s City Centre by introducing more planting and natural elements to Union Street.
Increased trees and vegetation help support urban wildlife, creating habitats for pollinators and improving ecological diversity in Aberdeen’s built-up city centre.
This added greenery helps absorb air pollutants, reduce carbon levels, and mitigate the effects of traffic emissions, contributing to a healthier environment for everyone!
A Vibrant City Centre All Year Round
The Garden Mile will create a playful, colourful place to be all year round. Transforming Union Street into a place to stop and spend time. Through bright colours, warm textures and cheerful forms, the planters and benches bring personality and softness to Aberdeen’s iconic Granite Mile.
Multi-height greenery throughout the year encourages biodiversity while fostering a lively atmosphere even on grey days. The modular elements allow the street to evolve depending on use, events and seasons. Together, the playfulness, colour and planting reimagine Union Street as a vibrant, people-focused space that feels cared for, inclusive and enjoyable whatever the weather.
A Community Effort, It’s Our Union Street
Aberdeen has been recognised yet again for its community efforts in improving it's City Centre due to winning Gold in the Britain in Bloom Small City and City Category 2025. Unfortunately, Union Street is struggling with a negative perception of dilapidation and inaccessibility.
The Garden Mile aims to tackle this perception head on. The project is driven by strong community involvement, bringing together Our Union Street Volunteers, Aberdeen City Council, Schools, Local Businesses and more to help deliver improvements to Aberdeen’s City Centre. Key activities such as painting and gardening will help create a sense of ownership of the City Centre.
Want to give your thoughts? Fill out this survey!
Union Terrace Gardens to the Music Hall
Phase one of the project looks to the centre of Union Street. A garden corridor stretching out from Union Terrace Gardens to the Music Hall. This first phase of The Garden Mile features 120 modules, a mix of benches and planters and playful objects on the street.
The project was funded by Aberdeen City Council’s LEZ Fund which looks to enhance the air quality, access to green space and walkability of the city centre. We hope a successful launch this year will encourage your councillors and senior officials to support us again to complete further phases. Let us know where you would like to see the Garden Mile go next!
What does The Garden Mile bring to Union Street?
The Garden Mile brings greenery to the street, a place to be among plants. It is important that our city centre is a playful and inviting space encouraging all generations of people. A lively and layered street with trees, climbing plants and hanging baskets. A space for plants all around.
The Garden Mile project uses bright colours and warm, natural textures to soften Aberdeen’s traditionally grey cityscape and create a more inviting city centre.
By combining planting with colourful planters and seating made from tactile, welcoming materials, the project helps make the street feel more vibrant, comfortable, and loved.
These design choices contrast with the surrounding granite architecture, improving the visual interest and encouraging people to pause, dwell, and enjoy the space. This approach helps change perceptions of the city centre and creates a friendlier, more uplifting environment for residents and visitors alike.
The key to the Garden Mile is its playful and colourful character. The Granite Mile, whilst an impressive granite avenue, is generally a place to get from A to B. The Garden Mile wants to make people stop, chat, sit and spend time. The playfulness of the colours and the personality of the frames, baskets and cheerful shapes aims to bring together the young and the old, families and friends, workers and students, locals and visitors. The planters act as a colourful canvas to tell the story of Aberdeen too.
The Garden Mile project is designed in multiple arrangements to create spaces where people are encouraged to stop, sit, and spend time. By incorporating comfortable seating and vibrant greenery, the project transforms Union Street into places for rest, socialising, and everyday enjoyment. This focus on dwelling helps improve wellbeing, encourages social interaction, and provides a more relaxed and people-friendly environment. The Garden Mile helps reimagine Union Street as a place to be experienced, not just a route to take people from A to B.
Coming later to the Garden Mile are some special storytelling benches. Benches that celebrate the heritage, culture and geography of Aberdeen. Coming to the street: The River Dee and Don, Aberdeen's Trams and Union Bridge.
The Garden Mile's modular design approach with multiple add-ons and playful features allows the various arrangements to be flexible, adaptable, and engaging for a wide range of users.
The modular elements can be easily rearranged, expanded, or updated over time, enabling the project to grow and respond to the community's needs, the seasons, or city centre events.
The inclusion of playful features and bright colours encourages interaction, creativity, and informal use of space, making the street environment more enjoyable and less rigid.
Our aim for the design is to encourage experimentation, boost the community involvement, and improve the long-term sustainability while keeping Aberdeen’s city centre lively and welcoming.
A Collaborative Effort
The Garden Mile project is only possible due to a strong collaborative effort between local organisations like Our Union Street, Aberdeen City Council and HMP Grampian's Community Workshop, Local businesses, and amazing volunteers who are working together to improve Aberdeen’s city centre.
This partnership-based approach helps ensure the project is: Sustainable, well-supported and cared for; Aligned with wider city goals like improving and increasing access to Aberdeen's Greens Spaces; and demonstrating how collaboration can lead to meaningful and lasting improvements for Aberdeen.
Frequently asked questions...
Our Union Street was founded by Aberdeen & Grampian Chamber of Commerce, Aberdeen Inspired, Aberdeen City Council and Opportunity North East, Shell and AB15 Ltd. The partners wanted a unifying and collaborative figure to lead the effort, and approached Bob Keiller, who has agreed to provide his services for free.
MAKMONO is a small design practice based in Aberdeen and was founded in 2023 with a passionate for community based design. MAKMONO has collaborated with Our Union Street, over the past 3 years, on a number of design based projects. They created the concept of the Garden Mile as well as completing the furniture design in collaboration with the Brighten the Streets Team at Our Union Street.
Aberdeen City Council is generously funding the project through the LEZ Fund with incredible support from the Environmental Department who will help us implement and plant the project.
The Community Workshop at HMP Grampian offered their support in constructing the planters helping bring the vision to life!
You! Thanks to feedback collected: by Our Union Street on its inception; by the council in making our city better; and by makmono in consultation with key stakeholder groups, we have listened and designed this project to make your experience of Union Street brighter and more pleasant!
-> Volunteer! <- We need an army of volunteers to help tidy up units, clear up public areas and to get the street looking as good as it can. We need story-tellers, trades people, historians, project mangers, as well as folk who are simply happy to get their hands dirty!
-> Fill out this survey! <-
