PLANS have been revealed for a "world class" film and TV studio complex just outside Edinburgh.
Nine sound stages would be created at a 48-acre site in Dalkeith on land currently owned by the Duke of Buccleuch’s property empire.
One of Scotland's biggest landowners, PSL Land, has lodged a planning application with Midlothian Council and hopes to begin work on site within months and have the studio up and running by the end of next year.
Buccleuch Estates has joined forces with PSL Land, which behind a previous studio scheme thwarted in the wake of a bitter legal battle with a farmer to draw up plans for the site at Saltersgate.
Their deal has emerged just weeks after it emerged that an empty warehouse in Leith Docks had been earmarked by the Scottish Government and its screen agency for a studio development. A search is underway for a developer and operator for the Leith project.
READ MORE: Screen Scotland reveal plans for major Edinburgh film studio
The Midlothian project is being pursued for a site around four miles away from the one which was first proposed for the Pentland Studios project in 2014.
Buccleuch Estates approached PSL Land after the Scottish Land Court found in favour of farmer Jim Telfer and his family, who had occupied the land for more than a century.
As well as around 200,000 sq ft of studio space, the new site at Saltersgate would feature around 120,000 sq ft of workshop space.
Talks are also ongoing with Edinburgh Napier University about establishing a film academy on the site.
Nick Waugh, commercial property director at the commercial arm of Buccleuch Estates, told the Edinburgh Evening News: “We recognize the importance of this ambitious project, and are delighted to play a role in helping deliver a world-class film studio to Scotland that will inevitably transform the Scottish creative industry and our reputation as a filming location across the globe.”
PSL Land consultant Nick Smith said: “You look at what’s happening in the Bristol and South Wales corridor or Belfast, and the one area of the UK that is missing out by a country mile and has been for years is Scotland.”
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