Buying a building plot in or around Lerwick? 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 Lerwick area (15.23 km² from the OS Open Names extent), open LiDAR covers 99% of the ground. The best survey for most of it is LiDAR for Scotland Phase 2 (DTM only), flown 2012–2014 on a 1 m grid.
That survey is about 12 years old. Plots in Lerwick 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 -0.8 m and 109.3 m above Ordnance Datum, with a median of 14.8 m. The extremes (-0.9 m to 128.1 m) can include water surfaces and data edges, so we don't quote them as ground levels.
That makes Lerwick 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.
Parts of the area are less than 5 m above Ordnance Datum, so a plot report here also lists whether SEPA's mapped flood extents touch the boundary. That is a map layer, not a flood risk assessment.
Fitting a plane through the 10 m levels, the ground across Lerwick falls generally towards the east at about 30.1 m per km (roughly 1 in 33). The lowest tenth of the ground lies mostly to the east, and the highest tenth lies mostly to the west.
About 35.7% of the 10 m samples are flatter than 1 in 40, while one in ten is steeper than 11.6°.
On SEPA's flood maps (medium likelihood), 1.8% of the Lerwick extent is inside the river flood extent, 6% inside the surface water extent and 29.8% 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 131 listed building records in the extent (6 category A, 69 category B, 56 category C), and 4 scheduled monuments and 2 conservation areas overlapping it. A plot report lists any that touch or sit near your boundary.
NatureScot protected areas overlapping the extent: East Mainland Coast, Shetland (SPA).
None of the Lerwick extent is within the Coal Authority's Development High Risk Area.
Nearest towns with pages here: Kirkwall, 166.1 km south-west, median ground about 7 m higher; Stromness, 180.1 km south-west, median ground about 22 m higher; Thurso, 219.9 km south-west, median ground about 10 m higher; Wick, 220.5 km south-west, median ground about 5 m higher.
Sampled every 10 m, the typical slope is 3.5°, and 33.9% 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 | 15.23 km² (OS Open Names extent, at most 6 km across) |
|---|---|
| LiDAR coverage | 99.0% |
| Best survey | LiDAR for Scotland Phase 2 (DTM only), flown 2012–2014, 1.0 m grid (99.0%); typical ±0.15 m |
| Ground levels | mostly -0.8–109.3 m AOD (2nd–98th percentile), median 14.8 m |
| Slope (10 m sample) | median 3.5°, 90th percentile 11.6°, 33.9% steeper than 1 in 10 |
| Overall fall | towards the east, about 30.1 m per km |
| SEPA flood maps (medium likelihood) | river 1.8%, surface water 6.0%, coastal 29.8% of the extent (awareness only, not a flood risk assessment) |
| HES records in extent | 131 listed buildings (A 6, B 69, C 56), 4 scheduled monuments, 2 conservation areas, 0 gardens and designed landscapes |
| NatureScot protected areas | 1 |
| 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.
Kirkwall · Stromness · Thurso · Wick
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.