exMarathon Oil House (The Charter Building)

 

Located at the Hill of Rubislaw on Anderson Drive, the 1980s-era office block once served as the headquarters for Marathon Oil Exploration UK until 2015 when staff and its tenants started moving out.

 

Marathon UK was then acquired by RockRose in 2019, RockRose it self was then bought out by Viaro Energy in 2020.

 

Despite a major interior refurbishment and rebranding also in 2019, the building has stood largely vacant for several years unable to attract new tenants to keep the building open.

With Aberdeen City Council scrapping business rate relief for empty properties in 2024 meant that the building with a rateable value of close to £1,500,000 still has an annual bill of £700,000 for sitting empty.

 

Taking that costs into account with no revenue and a quote of only £500,000 to demolish it meant that for the owners it was the best option giving the initial £250,000 saving on year one.

A lot of other properties in Aberdeen have seen and will see the same fate sadly.