Buying a building plot in or around Ballater? See how the ground falls and what constraints apply before you commit, using the Scottish Government LiDAR flown over the area and published on the Scottish Remote Sensing Portal.
Across the Ballater area (2.8 km² from the OS Open Names extent), open LiDAR covers 100% of the ground. The best survey for most of it is LiDAR for Scotland Phase 1, flown 2011–2012 on a 1 m grid.
That survey is about 14 years old. Plots in Ballater that have been cleared, filled or built on since then won't show those changes, so the report flags the date at the top of every page and checks for buildings mapped since the flight where it can.
Most of the ground across the area (96% of readings) lies between 192.4 m and 374 m above Ordnance Datum, with a median of 203.6 m. The extremes (191 m to 401.4 m) can include water surfaces and data edges, so we don't quote them as ground levels.
That makes Ballater steep ground by Scottish town standards: about a quarter or more of it falls faster than 1 in 10. On slopes like that, the cut-and-fill estimate and the fall across the plot are often the numbers that change a build budget most, so they're worth seeing before an offer.
Higher ground reaches about 374 m, so exposure and access gradients can matter on the upper plots.
Fitting a plane through the 10 m levels, the ground across Ballater falls generally towards the south-east at about 48.5 m per km (roughly 1 in 21). The lowest tenth of the ground lies mostly to the north-east, and the highest tenth lies mostly to the north-west.
About 38.1% of the 10 m samples are flatter than 1 in 40, while one in ten is steeper than 26.3°.
On SEPA's flood maps (medium likelihood), 20.6% of the Ballater extent is inside the river flood extent, 4% inside the surface water extent and none inside the coastal extent. The extent is a rectangle round the town, so it can take in foreshore, sea and open ground. These are indicative national maps, not a flood risk assessment; a plot report gives the figures for your own boundary.
Historic Environment Scotland has 42 listed building records in the extent (11 category B, 31 category C), and 1 conservation area overlapping it. A plot report lists any that touch or sit near your boundary.
NatureScot protected areas overlapping the extent: Craigendarroch (SSSI); River Dee (SAC).
None of the Ballater extent is within the Coal Authority's Development High Risk Area.
Nearest towns with pages here: Alford, 28.8 km north-east, median ground about 59 m lower; Banchory, 32.5 km east, median ground about 131 m lower; Kirriemuir, 41.9 km south, median ground about 56 m lower; Brechin, 42.2 km south-east, median ground about 131 m lower.
Sampled every 10 m, the typical slope is 2.6°, and 41.9% of the area is steeper than 1 in 10. A single plot can be much flatter or steeper than this. Its report works at 0.5 m.
| Area checked | 2.8 km² (OS Open Names extent, at most 6 km across) |
|---|---|
| LiDAR coverage | 100.0% |
| Best survey | LiDAR for Scotland Phase 1, flown 2011–2012, 1.0 m grid (100.0%); typical ±0.15 m |
| Ground levels | mostly 192.4–374.0 m AOD (2nd–98th percentile), median 203.6 m |
| Slope (10 m sample) | median 2.6°, 90th percentile 26.3°, 41.9% steeper than 1 in 10 |
| Overall fall | towards the south-east, about 48.5 m per km |
| SEPA flood maps (medium likelihood) | river 20.6%, surface water 4.0%, coastal 0.0% of the extent (awareness only, not a flood risk assessment) |
| HES records in extent | 42 listed buildings (A 0, B 11, C 31), 0 scheduled monuments, 1 conservation areas, 0 gardens and designed landscapes |
| NatureScot protected areas | 2 |
| Coal Authority high risk area | 0.0% of the extent |
Read from the open LiDAR at a 10 m sample on 2026-10-23; local data checked 2026-10-23. A plot report reads the same data at 0.5 m for your boundary only.
Accuracy. We test Scottish LiDAR against independent survey overlaps and Ordnance Survey levelled trig pillars: heights are ±0.14 m typical on open ground (95% within ±0.28 m). Results by survey phase.
Alford · Banchory · Kirriemuir · Brechin
Place names and extents: OS Open Names. Contains OS data © Crown copyright and database right 2026. LiDAR: contains Scottish Government LiDAR data, Open Government Licence v3. ©SEPA 2025; this SEPA product is licensed under the Open Government Licence version 3.0. Third-party data attribution statements: https://www.sepa.org.uk/media/5zidnja5/sepa_flood_maps_data_attribution_statements.pdf (SEPA flood maps are indicative and not suitable for individual properties). Contains Historic Environment Scotland and Ordnance Survey data © Historic Environment Scotland - Scottish Charity No. SC045925 © Crown copyright and database right 2026. Open Government Licence v3. Contains NatureScot information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3. Contains Mining Remediation Authority (formerly the Coal Authority) data, Open Government Licence v3. See data licences.