Leading street-art festival to return to Aberdeen in June

Nuart Aberdeen, the award-winning and internationally renowned street-art festival, is to return to the walls of the Granite City from June 8-11.

The theme for this year’s festival is rewilding and will see 10 acclaimed artists visit Aberdeen to create new artwork in the city, ranging from large murals to smaller, more intricate installations.

Councillor Martin Greig, culture spokesperson for Aberdeen City Council, said Nuart was a much-anticipated event, both for Aberdeen and the international street art community.

“Nuart Aberdeen has been enjoyed by many residents and visitors to the City. The designs and images have added so much welcome colour and vitality to local streets. It will be good to see the latest imaginative creations when Nuart Aberdeen returns this June.”

Since the first festival in Aberdeen in 2017, it has attracted tens of thousands of visitors and locals, boosting the local economy as well as providing a lasting legacy alongside new and inspiring pieces of art throughout the city centre.

Widely regarded as the best street art festival of its kind in the world, Nuart Aberdeen is a not-for-profit event supported by partners Aberdeen Inspired and Aberdeen City Council and delivered by Reed Projects.

Aberdeenshire Council focus on circular economy

Aberdeenshire Council recycles around 70% of its street sweepings and the recovered materials have now been turned into sustainable, highly adaptable, building blocks.

The council collects all its street sweepings, which would previously have been sent to landfill, and currently sends them to Levenseat’s recycling facility in Forth, Lanarkshire.

Sweepings are washed, sieved, separated, and filtered. The aggregate and graded sand recovered from the process is used to create concrete that ultimately becomes an interlocking building product known as Lev-co blocks.

With Aberdeenshire Council rolling out its new kerbside collection strategy across Aberdeenshire, blocks such as these can be used to create separated, adjustable bays so that no contamination between the various recycling streams can take place.

Chair of the council’s Infrastructure Services Committee Councillor John Crawley said: “This innovative use of street sweepings is an excellent example of the circular economic approaches we should all be aspiring to for our waste and recycling.

“A circular economy helps to reduce waste, conserve resources, and in this instance is an opportunity for a business to create a new revenue stream.”

Change at the top of EY in Aberdeen as Derek Leith exits

Energy tax expert Derek Leith has announced that he is leaving global professional services giant EY this summer.

During Mr Leith’s time at the firm, EY has gone from a global headcount of around 100,000 to nearly 400,000, and revenue generated by EY’s Aberdeen team has almost trebled since he took over in 2012.

Mr Leith’s departure paves the way for Moray Barber, currently Head of Tax for EY in Aberdeen, to take over as head of office from July 1.