Architecture students at Robert Gordon University (RGU) have laid out their ideas for how the land surrounding Aberdeen’s new bypass can best be utilised.

The Stage 6 students have presented ideas on how to develop the land around the A93 North Deeside Road at its intersection with the Aberdeen Western Peripheral Route, with proposals including a vertical distillery, theatre and research institutes.

The students were set a brief of exploring developments that would challenge the cul-de-sac housing and retail park format that pops up around bypass intersections.

Course leader David Vila Domini said: “The project is a way of exploring what might be possible for this site between Milltimber and the bypass by taking into account a holistic approach to the city, as opposed to the usual piecemeal developments which spring up around bypass routes.

“Each of the students has proposed a development led by functions which are suited to a site on the periphery of a city. The benefit of having a more coherent approach to these sorts of locations is that often they connect to the city in a different, more permeable way, rather than just building more housing or retail parks which simply serves to push more and more cars on to the main arterial roads.”