Former £4 Million Aberdeenshire Visitor Centre Relisted for Sale at £150,000

An abandoned visitor centre in Aberdeenshire, constructed in 1997 at a cost of £4 million, is currently on the market with offers sought over £150,000. Archaeolink Prehistory Park, situated at Oyne, near Insch, ceased operations in 2011. This closure followed Aberdeenshire Council’s decision to withdraw funding due to low visitor numbers. The council had been investing more than £100,000 annually into the park, which equated to approximately £13 per visitor. The building and its surrounding land were first offered for sale in 2015 and were acquired in 2023 by two local businessmen for an undisclosed sum, but the visitor centre component is now available for purchase once more. Archaeolink Prehistory Park functioned as an educational tourist attraction dedicated to exploring Scotland’s Prehistoric era. It invited visitors to “take a walk through history” and featured a Mesolithic camp, an Iron Age farm and hill fort, and a Roman marching camp. The facility also included an exhibition space, a shop, a theatre, and a restaurant. The park had aimed to draw up to 100,000 visitors each year; however, in 2010, the year before its closure, visitor numbers reached only about 10,500. Before its opening in 1997, a protest group expressed concerns during a council committee meeting regarding the funding of Archaeolink park should it face financial difficulties. Aberdeenshire Council provided annual subsidies of up to £135,000 to support the park before discontinuing funding and winding it up in 2011. After unsuccessful attempts to secure a new backer, the council agreed to place the site on the market in January 2015. The entire site, spanning approximately 13 acres, was purchased in 2023 by Mike Bisset and Shaun Scott, two businessmen who reside nearby. Currently, only the section of the site containing the Archaeolink exhibition and visitor centre is for sale. Mr. Bisset and Mr. Scott have plans to develop several houses on the grounds surrounding the visitor centre. Mr. Bisset stated: “We were fed up with having an unutilised building and a hugely overgrown area that had been abandoned. There was graffiti and people coming in to the area just to break into the building.” The men indicated they acquired the site with the intention of tidying it up and ensuring the building’s use would “add to the feel of the village,” in contrast to a large developer who might “spoil the area” with an extensive commercial project. The site is situated approximately one mile from the village of Oyne and is set against the backdrop of Bennachie, a prominent hill range in Aberdeenshire. The visitor centre was designed to blend into its rural surroundings, featuring a grass-covered roof that rises like a conical hill. It was designed by London architects, Cullinan Studio, and received a Scottish Design Awards Commendation for best new building in 1997. Shepherd Chartered Surveyors are listing the building, describing it as a “unique space” suitable for “a variety of commercial uses.” Shepherd agent Shona Boyd commented that the site is unlike anything they have ever listed previously. She remarked: “There are a lot of options in terms of what’s possible.”