Aberdeen, Woodside, River Don

This chapter considers the likely effects on cultural heritage interests of the construction and operation of the proposed Access From The North (Third Don Crossing) road, City of Aberdeen. It builds upon the baseline study and assessments reported in Chapters 4 and 5 of the Stage 2 Environmental Statement (RSK ENSR 2004).

The specific objectives of the Stage 3 cultural heritage study were to :

Establish the cultural heritage baseline within and adjacent to the proposed development corridor.

Assess the route corridor in terms of its archaeological and historic environment potential.

Assess the potential impacts of the construction and operation of the proposed road on the baseline cultural heritage resource.

Propose measures, where appropriate, to mitigate any predicted adverse impacts, assessing residual impacts taking mitigation into account.

92 archaeological and heritage sites or areas have been identified within a 500m wide study corridor centred upon the proposed route. They comprise 1 Scheduled Ancient Monument and 41 unscheduled archaeological sites and areas, 29 Listed Buildings and 18 other structures of architectural or historic interest, the Old Aberdeen Outstanding Conservation Area, and 2 undesignated historic landscape features or areas. Sensitive features concentrate along the route corridor within the former policies of Danestone House, between Grandholm Drive and the north bank of the River Don, and along Tillydrone Avenue, where the route follows the western edge of the Old Aberdeen Conservation Area and crosses part of an area of archaeological interest associated with Old Aberdeen.

Nine cultural heritage receptors would receive direct and/or indirect impacts as a result of the construction and operation of the proposed road. Of these, the category B listed Danestone walled garden and the undesignated remant policies associaed with Danestone House would receive significant impacts. Construction works may also cause direct impacts upon currently undetected archaeological remains, and upon several sites identified from documentary sources of which buried archaeological remains potentially but do not certainly survive.

It is concluded that the overall effec of the proposed scheme upon cultural heritage interests would be locally significant within the Danestone policies, but would be non-significant elsewhere along the route.

Funder: Faber Maunsell

CFA Archaeology Ltd

A geophysical survey was carried out on the Access from the North Proposal (The Third Don Crossing). The geophysical survey is part of a programme of archaeological non-invasive investigations to facilitate the construction of the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route and associated schemes.

Information from Oasis (headland1-144215) 26 March 2013