Case Study - Buccleuch Estates - Shawfair
Buccleuch Estates - Shawfair
I’ve been documenting Shawfair, a major new town development in Midlothian for Buccleuch Estates, since 2019. When I first began, the landscape was a mix of brownfield sites and farmland — open, empty, and full of possibility.
My initial task was to capture the land as it was, through both photography and video, giving prospective developers a sense of scale and opportunity. Over time, that focus has shifted.
As new roads, infrastructure and housing have taken shape, my work has evolved into tracking progress — from early groundwork to construction and completion. Each stage brings a different story, and together they form a powerful visual record of the transformation of the land.
It’s a highly commercial project, designed to help landowners and developers show the scale and potential of Shawfair to investors, housebuilders and future residents.
What began as a series of flights over open fields has become an ongoing chronicle of an entire new community being built from the ground up.
