A cathedral to business at Peterhead

You know, when I say that Aberdeenshire is the new epicentre of dynamic growth in Scotland (if not in Europe) I mean what I say. When I read my Press and Journal this morning I was doubly thrilled - so much so that I forgot to feed the ferrets before I left for work. My mind was literally buzzing with the sheer business acumen and bravado of folk across in the north east. But wait - things get better! One of my all time favourite design firms is responsible for this project - a massive business and technology park on the edge of Peterhead designed by Keppies! Amazing!

Now this is a mind boggling project - a 300 acre site providing over 1,400 jobs in over 5.4 million square feet of business, storage and industrial units. It's called the Energetica Industry Park - amazing! The project has been shown to an adoring public and a planning application will be submitted in November. This is planning-speak for letting the public know that planning permission has already been granted. Believe me, it's a sort of nudge-nudge wink-wink thing that we planning experts do. You see, the goons in the RTPI know that the game is a bogey and that you can't stop the wheels of industry - only domestic extensions and some hot food shops get refused these days. So Keppies will get the green light - that is guaranteed.

Now I don't have any wee photies of the actual proposal so I put these together by imagining what it will be like - a veritable cathedral to business, glistening in the sunlight, reflecting in the North Sea and visible for miles around. Now you can guess what they will be making there - yes, golf balls for Dr Donald Trump's world-beating golf course just down the road to name but a few. It's what we expert planners call a cluster of excellence and you can also imagine factories being established to produce flags for the greens, sports bags and plastic seagulls. Really, the sky is the limit.

So congratulations to Keppies for another world beating design initiative. It's a fantastic boost for an area that is already doing better than the rest of Scotland put together. The march of development over the countryside continues apace and soon, Aberdeen and Peterhead will link up in an ark of prosperity the likes of which has never been seen before, casting hundreds of agricultural workers off the land and into proper employment, leaving the sheep to run for the hills. For Peterhead, the future is assured.