Energy Pilot Grant Scheme (2024-2025)
Chewing Gum Task Force (2024)
Local Authority Covid Economy Recovery Fund (2022)
UK Community Renewal Fund (2022)
City Centre Recovery Fund (2021)
FCCP (2021)
Levelling Up Fund (2021)
Domestic Optimised Retrofit Innovation Concept (2020-2024)
Town Centre Fund (2020-2021)
HECTOR (2019-2023)
Smart Hy-Aware (2019-2023)
Jive (2017-2022)
BEGIN (2017-2022)
OLEV (2017-2020)
European Social Fund (ESF) Employability Pipeline (2017-2020)
HyTrEc2 (2016-2023)
Civitas Portis (2016-2020)
ACE Retrofitting (2016-2020)
SCORE (2016-2019)
HeatNet NWE (2016)
Smart Cities (2015-2023)
Middlefield Greenspace and Regeneration Project (2014-2019)
Energy Pilot Grant Scheme (2024-2025)
Launched in October 2024, the Energy Pilot Scheme was funded by the UK Shared Prosperity Fund. Aberdeen City Council worked alongside Scarf to deliver the fund which offered non-repayable grants of up to £10,000 to eligible SMEs. These grants covered up to 50% of the total project cost, providing businesses with the financial support needed to undertake energy-saving upgrades.
Eligible projects under the Energy Pilot Scheme included, but were not limited to:
- Renewable Energy Installations: Such as solar panels, biomass boilers, or heat pumps.
- Energy Efficient Equipment: Including new heating systems, LED lighting, and energy-efficient machinery.
- Building Improvements: Such as insulation, new doors, windows, or other measures that enhance energy efficiency.
- Other Carbon-Reducing Initiatives: Any other activities that can significantly reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions.
More information on the Energy Pilot Grant Scheme is available here: Energy Pilot Grant Scheme | Aberdeen City Council
Chewing Gum Task Force (2024)
Established by Defra (Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs) and run by environmental charity: Keep Britain Tidy, the Chewing Gum Task Force aims to provide investment of up to £10 million spread over five years. Aberdeen City Council received £27,500 from a fund designed to assist local councils in their efforts to clean up chewing gum. This funding will support additional cleaning and signage aimed at preventing littering in the future.
The Chewing Gum Task Force enhanced Aberdeen City Councils existing cleansing operations successfully removing thousands of pieces of chewing gum from Union Street, boosting its appearance. The project also involved the installation of new signage along Union Street with a focus on preventing future littering which supports long-term behaviour change. The project improved the trading environment for city centre businesses, enhanced visitor appeal, and contributed to a cleaner, more welcoming streetscape. Complementary regular maintenance programmes are in place ensuring the project will have a long-lasting impact and supporting wider city centre improvements.
This project demonstrates Aberdeen City Council's commitment to maintaining clean, attractive public spaces whilst delivering value for money through effective partnership working.
More information on the Chewing Gum Task Force in Aberdeen is available here: Chewing gum tackled on Union Street | Aberdeen City Council
Local Authority Covid Economy Recovery Fund (2022)
In February 2022 the Scottish Government made £80m of funding available across Scotland through the Local Authority Covid Economic Recovery Fund (LACER), of which, Aberdeen City Council was awarded £2.85 million. The fund allowed ACC to consider the needs of local businesses, communities, and households and to target support to maximise economic recovery in the local area. Projects that have been funded through Local Authority Covid Economy Recovery fund in Aberdeen include:
- Aberdeen Foyer: Cash First – direct support of hardship providing essentials to people in financial crisis.
- ACC: Creative Incubator Feasibility Study – Provide long term creative business support to boost economic activity in the sector
- ACC: Hardship Support – Direct support of hardship: provisions of food/fuel vouchers, free school meals, emergency food and clothing distributed amongst established organisations.
- Aberdeen Inspired: Aberdeen Gift Card/ Scotland Loves Local – This project will support low-income households by circulating pre-paid gift cards to be spent at local businesses.
- ABERnecessities: Brighter Future – Provide ‘new start’ packs for families fleeing domestic abuse.
More information on LACER funding can be found here: COVID Economic Recovery Fund - gov.scot
UK Community Renewal Fund (2022)
In 2022 the UK Government launched a new fund of £220m which aimed to support communities and organisations to prepare for the UK Shared Prosperity Fund coming shortly after in 2022. By funding innovative pilot programmes, the investment aimed to boost skills, support local businesses and support people to get into work. Aberdeen City Council was awarded £306,000 from the fund in 2022 to fund street performances and culture festivals in Aberdeen city centre, placing artists at the heart of the city’s recovery from the pandemic and creating employment and training opportunities in Aberdeen’s creative industries.
More information on the UK Community Renewal Fund is available here: £18 million to help level up communities across Scotland - GOV.UK
City Centre Recovery Fund (2021)
The City Centre Recovery Task Force was set up in 2021 to identify the actions that were required to support city centre recovery from the effects of the pandemic, with the Scottish Government and all 7 Scottish cities working together in partnership through the Scottish Cities Alliance. The Task Force listened to the views from a wide range of stakeholders and identified priority outcomes to help city centres make an inclusive and sustainable recovery.
The five-year outcomes for city centre identified were:
- Increased residential capacity and occupancy in city centres
- Smaller city centre carbon footprint
- Reduction in the amount of vacant and derelict land and property
- Increase in city centre creative, entrepreneurial and startup activity
- More revenue raising opportunities for local authorities
- Reduction in oversupply of retail, and increase in cultural offer
- Faster and more agile planning decisions
More information on the City Centre Recovery fund can be found here: City Centre Recovery Task Force: report - gov.scot
FCCP (2021)
In 2021, the Fuel Cell Cargo Pedelec (FCCP) project allowed Aberdeen City to secure six fuel cell hydrogen cargo bikes which were trialled by businesses and organisations across the city to help with last mile delivery. It enabled the continued expansion of hydrogen technology in the city and was supported by the two existing hydrogen refuelling stations in the City.
More information on the FCCP project is available here: Homepage - FCCP: Fuel cell Cargo pedelec
Levelling Up Fund (2021)
The Levelling Up Fund was introduced by the UK Government in 2021 and aimed to invest in local infrastructure that had a visible impact on people and their communities. This included a range of high value local investment priorities, including local transport schemes, urban regeneration projects and cultural assets.
In 2021 Aberdeen City was awarded £20m from the fund. The project was for the replacement of the Aberdeen Market with mixed use development including retail, food and drink, leisure, sui generis and public open space including a proposed pedestrian link from Union Street to the Green. This project aims to address the following issues:
- Attracting and retaining skills and talent
- Presence of vacant sites in the heart of the City Centre
- Adverse impact of existing sites on the quality of City Centre streetscape
- City Centre retail decline
- Modal shift away from private car use
- A more permeable City Centre
- Capitalising on the credentials of the City’s food, drink and agriculture sector
More information on the levelling up fund is available here: New levelling up and community investments - GOV.UK
Domestic Optimised Retrofit Innovation Concept (2020-2024)
Following the launch of the Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund (SHDF) Demonstrator in October 2020, the Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy (BEIS) announced £62 million in funding to 17 local authorities for 19 projects. An initial investment to learn lessons and catalyse innovation in retrofitting. Projects were to demonstrate innovative approaches to retrofitting social housing at scale, using a whole house approach. The projects were to retrofit over 2,300 homes across the UK to bring them up to Energy Performance Certificate (EPC) band C or higher.
In 2020, the £5.2m Domestic Optimised Retrofit Innovation Concept (DORIC) project was approved for delivery by Aberdeen City Council in partnership with Smart Metering Systems, IRT and Robertson as the main contractor, retrofitting over 50 homes in the city. The project brought together a range of low-carbon generation and energy efficiency innovations demonstrating the decarbonisation potential for the UK’s social housing stock, whilst also improving comfort and lowering energy costs for residents. The technologies used for deployment included solar panels and heat pumps to remove the supply of carbon intensive fuels, installed alongside behind-the-metre battery storage systems.
More information on the DORIC project can be found here: Whole House Retrofit (WHR) and Social Housing Decarbonisation Fund Demonstrator (SHDF(D))
Town Centre Fund (2020-2021)
In 2021 the Scottish Government introduced a £50 million fund to support capital projects which stimulate local construction activity and support local employment. Local authorities were also to make investment decisions in the context of national and local commitments to town centres including the Town Centre First Principle and the Town Centre Action Plan; and more recently, the Place Principle. Aberdeen was awarded £1,835,000 from the fund. Projects supported in Aberdeen include:
- Suspended signage – Installation of 12 lightweight illuminated signs supported by visually unobtrusive 316 grade stainless steel wires and fixings, in various locations across the city centre.
- Belmont Filmhouse – Refurbishment of building to improve energy efficiency.
- Hayton Road - To improve footfall and access between two communities and their key retail areas at the Fountain area on Great Northern Road (Woodside) and Hayton Road (Tillydrone).
- Mither Kirk – The use of redundant space, in a heritage setting, to provide a place for the people of Aberdeen and visitors to the city to meet, learn and enjoy the experience.
- Parklets – To provide public spaces to relax and enjoy the atmosphere of the city centre
More information on the town centre fund can be found here: New scheme to support town centres - gov.scot
HECTOR (2019-2023)
The Hydrogen Waste Collection Vehicles in Europe (HECTOR) delivered seven fuel cell garbage trucks, in seven pilot sites across the north west Europe area: Aberdeen (Scotland), Groningen (Netherlands), Arnhem (Netherlands), Duisburg (Germany), Herten (Germany), Touraine Vallee de l’Indre (France), Brussels (Belgium).
Running from 2019 to 2023 the project delivered one hydrogen waste collection vehicle to collect waste within Aberdeen City. The project was a success and Aberdeen City Council gained experience with the operation of the truck, which enabled the partnership to generate recommendations for the deployment of fuel cell garbage trucks in North West Europe.
List of project partners:
1. Hydrogen, Fuel Cells and Electro-mobility in European Regions (Belgium)
2. Aberdeen City Council (Scotland)
3. Gemeente Groningen GRO (Netherlands)
4. SUEZ recycling and recovery (Netherlands)
5. Wirtschaftsbetriebe Duisburg (Germany)
6. Bruxelles Propreté (Belgium)
7. Communauté de Communes Touraine Vallée de l’Indre (France)
8. AGR Abfallentsorgungs-Gesellschaft Ruhrgebiet mbH (Germany)
9. Hogeschool van Arnhem en Nijmegen (Netherlands)
More information on the HECTOR project is available here: HECTOR - Hydrogen waste collection vehicles in North West Europe | Interreg NWE
Smart Hy-Aware (2019-2023)
SMART-HY-AWARE was an Interreg Europe transnational cooperation programme with a budget of €1,359.626 that aimed to promote hydrogen-electric mobility by tackling infrastructure and market uptake challenges surrounding this technology. The partners comprised of the Regional Development Agency of Aragon, Lazio Region, the province of Zuid-Holland, municipality of Delphi, Aberdeen City Council and Pannon Business Network Association.
Aberdeen City Council played a key role in this project; collaborating with other regional and local authorities across Europe, engaging local stakeholders, including businesses and the public, to promote the adoption of hydrogen technologies, development of infrastructure for hydrogen refuelling and support for the deployment of hydrogen-powered vehicles, and contributing to policy and strategy improvement that supported hydrogen mobility, focusing on real needs for implementation.
SMART-HY-AWARE officially came to an end in August 2023. The project was successful achieving increased awareness around the potential of hydrogen technologies for sustainable transport, improvement in Aberdeen’s hydrogen refuelling infrastructure, making it more accessible for both the public and private sectors, led to the improvement of regional policies and strategies that support the transition to a low-carbon economy and resulted in interregional collaborative learning that helped improve the efficiency of green propulsion in transport and the integration of renewable energy grids.
More information on the Smart Hy-Aware programme is available here: SMART HY AWARE | Interreg Europe
Jive (2017-2022)
The JIVE (Joint Initiative for hydrogen Vehicles across Europe) deployed 139 new zero emission fuel cell buses and associated refuelling infrastructure across five countries. Aberdeen received 25 double-decker hydrogen buses.
The JIVE project began in January 2017 and ran for six years, co-funded by a €32 million grant from the Clean Hydrogen Partnership (former Fuel Cells and Hydrogen Joint Undertaking) under the European Union Horizon 2020 framework programme for research and innovation. The project consortium comprised of 22 partners from seven countries.
More information on the JIVE initiative is available here: JIVE - Clean Hydrogen Partnership
BEGIN (2017-2022)
The Blue Green Infrastructures through Social Innovation (BEGIN) involved a total of 10 cities that joined forces to better deal with extreme weather events within their urban areas. Frequent and intense rainfall due to climate change is a widespread problem for many cities. To cope with it, cities need Blue and Green Infrastructure (BGI), such as green corridors or rainwater harvesting, in addition to conventional grey infrastructure. BGIs support existing grey infrastructure to cope with extreme weather events and improve disaster resilience.
As part of the BEGIN project, Aberdeen City Council undertook the Maidencraig Natural Flood Management Master Plan pilot project. ACC as partner of the North East Local District supported and collaborated with SEPA, Aberdeenshire Council, Moray Council, Cairngorms National Park Authority and Scottish Water in the collective effort to develop the plans for this project.
Phase 1 and 2 of the Maidencraig Flood Management Wetland Scheme have been completed. Phase 1 included a large-scale flood detention basin. The water is contained by an earth bund upon which are footpaths which provide a safe route to school for local children, as well as improved access to the various amenities in the wider area for residents in general. The construction of the earth banks has helped reduce flood downstream in the area and created a new home for nature by forming a wetlands area. Phase 2 included improvement of cycleways and core paths, improvement of lighting, installation of totem poles with educational displays, viewing platforms, dipping platforms, sign timer posts, benches, sand Martin walls, panels etc.
More information on this project can be found here: BLUE-GREEN CITIES IN THE SPOTLIGHT SERIES
OLEV (2017-2020)
The OLEV (Office for Low Emission Vehicles) project in Aberdeen was part of a broader initiative to promote hydrogen technology and low-emission vehicles. OLEV is a team working across government to support the early market for ultra-low emission vehicles (ULEV). They are providing over £900 million to position the UK at the global forefront of ULEV development, manufacture and use. This project aims to contribute to economic growth and help reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution on our roads.
Through this programme, Aberdeen City Council, working alongside local organisations, explored new hydrogen related products and services. In total 10 Toyota Mirai cars were leased for three years from 2017-2020 with five going to the National Health Service (NHS), three to the Co-wheels car club, one to Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) and one to Aberdeen City Council. Overall, the project was a success with all organisations praising the cars, one apparent outcome was the need for more hydrogen refuelling infrastructure around the country. The project was part funded by the UK Government Office for Low Emission Vehicles (OLEV) and Transport Scotland.
More information on the OLEV is available here: Office for Low Emission Vehicles - GOV.UK
European Social Fund (ESF) Employability Pipeline (2017-2020)
Aberdeen City Council led the delivery of the Progress through Positive Partnerships project, aimed at supporting people with multiple and complex needs into positive employment and training participation between 2017 and 2020. The project was part-funded by the European Union through a European Social Fund (ESF). Each local authority in Scotland was allocated a proportionate allocation of the fund, depending on population levels.
The project was led by Aberdeen City Council’s economic development team, with support from various partners within the communities, housing and infrastructure sectors. In Aberdeen there were five regeneration areas targeted with regards to the provision of employability support. This project enabled the provision of increased levels of support in these areas, providing additional opportunities to help those individuals with multiple barriers to move closer to the labour market by enabling them to develop relevant skills based on their own unique needs.
The project focused on enhancing employability services in Aberdeen, specific outcomes included:
- Improved access to employment and training for people with complex needs.
- Enhanced collaboration between local agencies and service providers.
- Increased employability skills and job readiness among participants
HyTrEc2 (2016-2023)
Hydrogen Transport Economy for the North Sea Region (HyTrEc2) was an EU funded programme aiming to develop a hydrogen transport economy in the North Sea Region. Aberdeen City Council was the lead beneficiary of the project and led Work Package 1: Project Management and Work Package 2: Communication Activities. Aberdeen City Councils involvement in HyTrEc2 increased the demand for the City’s hydrogen fuelling station through increasing the number of hydrogen vehicles utilising this resource. Additionally, the project helped Aberdeen City Council move forward in the creation of a supply chain and in the production of Green Hydrogen.
The HyTrEc2 successfully achieved its objectives of working together to create a market advantage, introducing more green hydrogen production storage and distribution, and improving the operational efficiency of hydrogen vehicles. In total, 24 cars, vans, and large trucks were introduced as part of the project, with two green hydrogen refuelling stations also installed. The projects communication was successful, achieving significant outreach by hosting delegations, undertaking vehicle launches, offering tours, preparing news stories, and developing training and information videos. Furthermore, the project also contained a 2 day workshop for 150 students and stakeholders to participate in practical lessons on using HyTrEc2 vehicles.
More information on the HyTrEc2 project is available here: About, Interreg VB North Sea Region Programme
Civitas Portis (2016-2020)
Under the European Funding programme Horizon 2020, which is the European Union's €80 billion research and innovation programme from 2014 to 2020, a call was released in late 2014 to invite applications for the call 'Mobility for Growth' which included urban mobility as a key component. Aberdeen City Council was invited to participate as a project partner in the project CIVITAS PORTIS. The project was announced as successful in 2016 and was 100% funded by the EU.
CIVITAS PORTIS designed, demonstrated, and evaluated innovative sustainable mobility measures in five European port cities: Aberdeen (UK), Antwerp (Belgium), Constanta (Romania), Klaipeda (Lithuania), and Trieste (Italy). There were 34 partners within the consortium with the project also having a major international ‘follower’ in the port city of Ningbo (China). The results of CIVITAS PORTIS, and the ambition of the consortium, was to show other port cities in Europe and beyond how to develop and implement a vision of sustainable mobility that can increase functional and social cohesion between city centres and ports, whilst driving economic growth and improving the attractiveness of urban environments.
During the project Aberdeen City Council worked with local partners including Robert Gordon University, Aberdeenshire Council, NESTRANS and Aberdeen Harbour Board.
Aberdeen City saw positive results from its involvement in the programme, in particular:
- A reduction in commuting travel time by 15%
- Shift to cycling in the city by more than 20%
- Shift to walking in the city by more than 20%
- A modal shift from car to public transport exceeding 15% (5% expected for whole city)
- Increased car occupancy through pooling from 1.15 persons per vehicle to a target of 1.33 reducing peak traffic volumes by 15% with a 20% reduction in energy consumed and reduction in air pollutants.
- Increase in business activity and job creation around the intermodal hubs were encouraged through good multi-modal access and mobility choice
- Aberdeen’s Southern corridor experienced improved traffic flow control, enhanced information to goods operators, improved accessibility to/from port, reduced goods traffic on other urban corridors, reduced pollution levels.
More information on the CIVITAS PORTIS project is available here: Aberdeen | CIVITAS
ACE Retrofitting (2016-2020)
The ACE Retrofitting project had a total budget of €4.25 million with €2.5 million of this being EU funding. This project aimed to tackle energy inefficiency in multi-occupancy buildings to ensure that the greatest number of private owners can benefit from reduced energy bills and improve their carbon footprint by 50 to 70 percent.
Energy Cities (the European association of Local Authorities in energy transition) led the project with six partner Local Authorities from five different countries in North West Europe (NWE) including Aberdeen City Council. The project introduced and promoted a governance arrangement that overcame various barriers of retrofitting condominiums within multi-occupancy buildings.
Aberdeen City Council successfully worked alongside the partners on this project with the project successfully achieving the following outcomes:
- Development of a toolkit that empowered the target group to overcome the barriers they face and increase and accelerate the energy retrofitting of condominiums
- Development of a web based support platform providing information, guidance and advice, incorporating the previously developed toolkit
- Creation of a promotional video to advertise the web site that was created
- Aberdeen City Council also wrote a range of case studies for publication as part of the project, these case studies can be found here: Accelerating Condominium Energy Retrofitting (ACE-Retrofitting) | Interreg NWE
- Aberdeen City Council published guidance on the web platform for homeowners explaining how to ensure they are selecting a reputable firm by ensuring they are members of relevant trade bodies, insurance schemes etc.
Find out more about ACE Retrofitting.
SCORE (2016-2019)
Smart Cities and Open data Reuse (SCORE) was a European Union funded project operating from 2016-2019 involving nine cities and three universities from throughout the North Sea Region: Amsterdam, Aarhus, Aberdeen, Bergen, Bradford, Dordrecht, Ghent, Gothenburg, Hamburg, University of Amsterdam, Aarhus University and the University of Bradford. The project aimed to develop innovative solutions based on open data and focused on sharing insights and methodologies for developing better public services including better management of sustainable mobility, improving air quality, monitoring flooding and furthering crowd management.
Due to the increase in high intensity rainfall events and the need to create greater resilience and adaption measures the main task for Aberdeen City Council was to create open access to key watercourse and rainfall data across several sites in the city. ACC established a river flood warning network by establishing water level gauges with innovative sensors throughout the city that linked to a website using a new LoRaWAN communication system. This flooding data was also available as a dataset on the Aberdeen Open Data Portal for re-use by citizens, academics and SMEs. The data can also be used by Aberdeen City Council staff to undertake informed and proactive decisions about flood management.
An additional Citizen science app was being developed by University of Bradford with citizens to report flooding issues. This would allow citizens in localities to inform their community of the flooding issue.
More information on the SCORE project is available here: SCORE Partners, Interreg VB North Sea Region Programme
HeatNet NWE (2016 - 2021)
The HeatNet NWE project was funded by the European Interreg North West Europe Programme. The project addressed the challenges of reducing co2 emissions in North West Europe by creating an integrated transnational approach to the supply of renewable and low carbon heat to residential and commercial buildings which increases the provision of district heating networks and affordable warmth.
The overall objective was to introduce and demonstrate 4th generation District Heating & Cooling (4DHC). This is a low-temperature distribution system to minimise heat loss, integrated energy storage, integrated renewable energy sources and supply to multiple low energy buildings. District heating facilitates energy efficiency, less CO2 emissions and a greener economy.
Aberdeen City Council was a partner in the project and worked alongside Aberdeen Heat and Power to develop a pilot project in Torry. A district heating network within this area currently served three multi storey blocks. The pilot expanded this existing network, linking in three municipal buildings; Balnagask House, Provost Hogg Court and Deeside Family Centre. Following a competitive tender exercise, Nicol of Skene were appointed to deliver the project.
For more information around the HeatNet NWE project in Aberdeen follow the link below: Heatnet: delivering low carbon district heat | Aberdeen City Council
Smart Cities (2015-2023)
The Smart Cities Strategic Intervention ran between 2015 and 2023 and involved seven Scottish cities (Aberdeen, Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Inverness, Perth, and Stirling) working on an ambitious programme of data and digital technology projects. The total investment in the project was over £48 million, including European Regional Development Fund support of more than £20 million and Cities Investment Fund (administered by Scottish Cities Alliance) of £500,000.
As a part of this programme, Aberdeen City Council completed two projects: the Aberdeen Digital Data Deployment (DDD) Project and the Intelligent Street Lighting (ISL) project.
The Aberdeen Digital Data Deployment project developed an Open Data Portal to publish and share public sector data. This platform allowed for greater transparency and provided data that could be used for innovation and commercial opportunities. The portal made a wide range of datasets available to the public, fostering innovation and enabling better decision-making. It also improved the city’s digital infrastructure and data management capabilities.
The Intelligent Street Lighting project involved using energy efficient LED lights and smart sensors to manage street lighting more effectively. The project led to significant energy savings and reduced carbon emissions. This project also improved public safety by providing better lit streets and reducing maintenance costs and downtime due to the longer lifespan of the LED lights.
Middlefield Greenspace and Regeneration Project (2014-2019)
The Middlefield Greenspace and Regeneration Project was undertaken by Aberdeen City Council with support from the Green Infrastructure Fund from the Scottish Government and the Regional Development Fund from the EU. The project aimed to create a public space that offered a host of social and environmental improvements through urban regeneration.
The intention of the project was to reduce the risk of flooding by improving stormwater infrastructure. This was supplemented by improved accessibility of the park, a range of formal and informal play opportunities, exercise trails (for a range of abilities), play areas, short grass areas, and picnic areas. Outdoor learning in nature is encouraged with wildflower areas, wetland planting and ponds.
This Project was developed with the community, during a consultation process that was held between 2014 and 2016. A ‘Total Place’ audit was undertaken of this neighbourhood. One of the identified actions was to upgrade this Park. The project was successful and work was completed in November 2019.
More information about the project is available here: Middlefield Greenspace and Regeneration Project | NatureScot