Union Terrace Gardens is an attractive space situated in the heart of the city centre. Disregarding the Gardens is an impressive line-up of three rock buildings referred to locally as instruction, salvation and condemnation or the Central Library, St Mark's Church and His Majesty's Theater. At the Union Street end of the Gardens stand a gathering of 200-year-old elm trees that were initially planted to forestall the recently extended Union Terrace slipping into the gardens. Grant winning consultancy LDA Design created plans based on the Masterplan vision using extra criticism accumulated during a public commitment exercise.