Next year marks the 40th anniversary of the first Offshore Europe oil show . . . a perfect excuse if one were needed to celebrate the at times staggering achievements of oil and gas companies out there in the North Sea and beyond and the role that Aberdeen has played throughout.
I hear there’s going to be a party. I hear that the industry is willing to dig into its pocket and chip some money into creating something special. But will it be enough money and will the something special being genuinely so?
I fear it won’t be and I’ll tell you why.
In the early 1990s while in Stavanger to attend Offshore Northern Seas (my second I think) I made an observation about the relationship between the town and the show it hosted every two years.
I said that, during ONS, Stavanger celebrates energy whereas, during Offshore Europe, Aberdeen takes the money and runs. I have never changed that view. Though the effort made at some OE’s has been moderately OK, Aberdeen has trailed far behind Stavanger every time. And I have attended at least 10 of each.
The actual trigger to the original comment in the Press and Journal about the two cities and their respective shows was the miserable presence mounted by Aberdeen and a thin posse of Scottish companies that year. I was appalled.
Things are somewhat better these days . . . thankfully and this year’s haggis and neep at the Aberdeen tent was great. However, the failure of UKTI to properly invite the Press & Journal to its reception in Stavanger this year has been noted and won’t be forgotten by this ol’ buzzard.
This year’s ONS was as excellent as ever and the manner in which the town embraced Norway’s success as an energy economy was truly superb . . . a real sense of festival that clearly drew in thousands of locals, especially to the closing rock concert and fireworks down at the harbour.
So what can Aberdeen do?
For a start, the UK North Sea industry needs to be generous to the city-region that has matured into a key, strategic, global energy capital, despite the appalling major road infrastructure, single track railroad, airport that trails behind Stavanger by a mile, and worrying lack of civic, collective corporate and personal pride in the Granite City, a place that is becoming known as “disnae land” in some quarters.
That means putting up a budget that matches the occasion without expecting the local public purse (Aberdeen City Council) to come up with money that it simply doesn’t have. Yes, there’s the Common Good Fund but, in my view, it would be wrong if anyone in the North Sea leadership thinks it can be tapped.
Of course the city must make its contribution and work hand-in-glove with all relevant stakeholders to mark Offshore Europe’s 40th with a sense of panache; one that invites the public.
Of course there have been highly-successful Free at the Dee concerts in Duthie Park (started in 2002) and there have been fireworks and so-forth, but the city centre has, by and large, been missed out.
My suggestion is that a major celebration be held smack bang in the middle of town. Schoolhill should be pedestrianised and the quadrangles at RGU/Robert Gordon’s College and at Marischal College should be focal points of special events . . . corporate and public . . . during OE week.
I recognise that the Robert Gordon quadrangle is a busy place during term-time. However, where there’s a will there is generally a way of achieving a workable arrangement.
In Stavanger, a tented village sprouts up around the town’s gorgeous waterfront. We can’t do that with Aberdeen harbour, but we could surely have a tented village for evening partying in the Robert Gordon quadrangle with its mix of paved and carefully manicured green spaces and Marischal’s elegant, restored space.
Schoolhill is picturesque and the quadrangles are superb, plus they are quite sheltered. And since there were downtown fireworks for the Millennium Celebrations, is there any good reason why that cannot be repeated for OE’s 40th?
Oh and what about giving our neglected, unloved Union Terrace Gardens a role?
The city should throw open the city centre car parks for free during the evenings of OE Week. And maybe a deal can be done with bus operator First Group.
Yes, there is the beach and it has been used before, but if this year is anything to go by, September 2013 will likely be cold . . . windswept . . . bleak. Which reminds me, a couple of Offshore Europe’s ago, I and a couple of others headed down to the beach entertainments area around 9pm, hoping for a bite to eat. Everyone had already shut up shop or was ushering the last customers out. The place was moribund; all but dead. And at Offshore Europe time. It just didn’t make sense. I asked myself what was wrong with Aberdeen.
Now that there is to be an annual Offshore Northern Seas . . . the new one is supposed to be a more local affair than the classic ONS and will kick off next August . . . it becomes even more important that the organisers of Offshore Europe, coupled with Aberdeen City & Shire (I’d better be politically correct) make a superb job of the 40th anniversary and of all future shows.
If the new, intermediary ONS is a success, it will grow. You can bet your bottom dollar that local will become international . . . that’s the nature of the offshore industry. And before we know where we are, Offshore Europe could come under threat from what has until now always been regarded as its sister, year-about show.
We have a duty to succeed.