Watch as Aberdeen’s iconic Shell building faces the wrecking ball

Diggers have begun tearing down the huge Shell building, once the energy giant’s “nerve centre” in Aberdeen.

Work to flatten the prominent Altens landmark started in February.

Shell bosses announced £10 million plans to demolish their former headquarters last summer, promising to make a “positive impact” with the land left behind.

The golden-windowed structure has been a distinctive part of the city skyline for decades.

Swift tour to boost UK spending by £1bn - report

Taylor Swift's Eras Tour will boost UK spending by almost £1bn this year, with more than a million fans gearing up to see the pop sensation perform live, new data suggests.

Spanning six continents, the tour will hit the UK for 15 dates in June and August, with fans expected to spend an average of £848 on tickets, travel, accommodation and outfits, according to Barclays.

The bank's report is the latest example of so-called "Swiftonomics" - highlighting the singer's economic influence.

When tickets for the Eras Tour went on sale last year, it crashed websites and led to sold-out hotels in host cities around the world.

Plans for family homes in Inverurie rejected as green space would be ‘4% too small’

A masterplan by Cala Homes to build up to 100 new homes in Inverurie has been rejected over fears it won’t have enough open space for future residents.

Outline proposals for the potential development at Conglass on the outskirts of the town went before councillors on Tuesday.

Cala had hoped to add between 90 to 100 homes on the site, located next to the housebuilder’s recently completed development The Grange and the Bennachie View Care Home.

The new houses were likely to be detached four and five-bedroom properties, each with their own gardens.

Greggs feels the heat from rising wage costs

Rising wages continue to take a bite out of profit margins at Greggs, despite the high street purveyor of sausage rolls and other snacks reporting a jump in first-quarter sales.

Roisin Currie, chief executive of Britain’s biggest bakery chain, said the “majority of cost inflation pressures that we face this year is wages” and that rising labour costs “continue to be the biggest cost pressure for us”.

The food-to-go retailer expects its own inflation this year to be somewhere between 4% and 5% as wage costs offset easing pressures elsewhere in the supply chain. Currie, 52, said Greggs would continue to keep price rises under review.

The company did not have a “current planning assumption” for prices, she said, but could “never say never. We just have to keep that open and review where we are week to week and month to month.”

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