Wikipedia
Shawfair is the name of a new town planned to be built on the site of the former Monktonhall Colliery in the south-east wedge of Edinburgh. The name is derived from a local farm steading of the same name. Although it is within the boundary of the city-bypass, it will not technically be a suburb of Edinburgh as it is outwith the city council boundary and instead will actually be wholly within the Midlothian council area.
In 2005 Midlothian Council, Edinburgh City Council and Miller Developments created a joint venture, Shawfair Developments Ltd, to work on the scheme. In 2009 Miller pulled out due to market conditions, putting the development in doubt. In November 2010 plans for the settlement were put on hold and the joint venture between Edinburgh City Council and Midlothian Council was dissolved. The Shawfair project was later restarted under the name Shawfair LLP, a joint venture between Mactaggart & Mickel and Buccleuch Property. The £200m development of Shawfair, expected to take 15 years, is forecast to provide a projected net economic output of around £32.2 million per annum during development and £99.9 million per annum thereafter.
The Shawfair railway station on the newly created Borders Railway, which opened in September 2015, will connect the new town centre with Edinburgh city centre.
The Minewater Project, an experimental scheme to provide geothermal energy was to be based in Shawfair. However the business case was not economically viable.
The site encompasses 700 acres. The £200 million development will create a new residential and commercial centre with around 4,000 new homes, two primary schools, a secondary school and one million sq ft of commercial and retail space. It is a projected that the development will provide a net economic output of around £32.2 million per annum during development and £99.9 million per annum thereafter.