Data story · Housing and schools
Where are Aberdeen’s new homes planned, and which primary schools serve them?
We placed every site in the council’s 2025 Housing Land Audit inside its primary school catchment. Growth is concentrated: five catchments account for 52% of the homes expected in the next five years.
- 18,960
- homes still to build, on 96 sites
- 4,017
- expected to be completed 2025–2030
- 34
- of 49 catchments have new homes planned
Every year the council publishes a Housing Land Audit: a site-by-site record of land set aside for new homes, how far each site has got through planning, and when homes are expected to be finished. It’s how the city keeps track of whether enough homes are coming forward.
Each new home also changes who walks through a school gate. Primary school catchments decide which school a child is offered, so where the homes land matters as much as how many there are. We placed each audit site inside its primary school catchment to see where the growth falls.
Homes expected 2025–2030, by catchment
Hover a catchment for its numbers.
Top 10 catchments
homes expected 2025–2030
- Brimmond626
- Scotstown376
- Forehill (Grandhome interim)375
- Milltimber362
- Countesswells351
- Gilcomstoun341
- Abbotswell281
- Stoneywood229
- Fernielea158
- Charleston117
What the data shows
- Brimmond has the most homes expected in the next five years: 626, across 6 sites.
- The single biggest site is Grandhome, with 4,330 homes still to build. Only 375 of them are expected by 2030, so most of its growth comes later.
- Five catchments account for 52% of the 4,017 homes expected by 2030. 15 catchments have no new homes planned at all.
What it doesn’t show
These are homes, not pupils, and this portal has no school roll or capacity data. A catchment with many new homes isn’t necessarily under pressure. That depends on how full its school is today and on the council’s school estate plans.
When will the homes be built?
Homes the audit expects to be completed, by audit year (April to March)
Completions are expected to peak at 922 in 2027/28, then ease to around 457 a year by the mid-2030s. For comparison, 707 homes were finished on these sites in 2024/25.
The audit programmes 6,639 homes over the next ten years. Another 8,650 (46% of everything still to build) are expected after 2035, and 3,671 have no year attached yet. Just three sites, Grandhome, Countesswells and Greenferns, account for 6,260 of the homes after 2035.
What kind of land, and how far along?
Homes still to build, by land type
A few big greenfield sites carry most of the growth: 29 greenfield sites hold 13,954 homes, while 67 brownfield sites, on land that has been built on before, hold 5,006. Brownfield sites are smaller and more numerous, often in established neighbourhoods.
Homes still to build, by planning status
- Under Construction11,709 · 31 sites
- No Consent3,484 · 35 sites
- Pending Decision2,489 · 3 sites
- Consented PPiP541 · 4 sites
- Consented Full399 · 21 sites
- Planning Permission in Principle333 · 1 sites
- Pre-Application5 · 1 sites
62% of the homes still to build are on sites already under construction. Big sites are built in phases over many years, so being under way doesn’t mean they’ll be finished soon.
The ten biggest sites
| Site | Primary catchment | Status | Still to build | 2025–2030 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Grandhome A/OM/R/067 | Forehill (Grandhome interim) | Deliverable | 4,330 | 375 |
Countesswells A/PC/R/070 | Countesswells | Deliverable | 2,236 | 351 |
Greenferns A/AC/R/568 | Westpark | Deliverable | 1,470 | 50 |
Rowett South A/NE/R/058 | Brimmond | Deliverable | 1,263 | 276 |
Loirston A/NG/R/029 | Charleston | Deliverable with Constraints | 1,038 | 100 |
Greenferns Landward A/NE/R/059 | Brimmond | Deliverable | 1,000 | 50 |
Maidencraig A/NE/R/061 | Fernielea | Deliverable | 568 | 158 |
Craibstone South A A/NE/R/057 | Brimmond | Deliverable | 520 | 244 |
Broadford Works, Maberly St A/AC/R/578 | Skene Square | Deliverable with Constraints | 460 | 0 |
Pittodrie Stadium A/AC/R/589 | Sunnybank | Constrained | 350 | 0 |
How we worked this out
- Sources: Housing Land Audit 2025 (96 sites, position at 31 March 2025) and Primary School Catchments (49 catchments). Both are published by Aberdeen City Council.
- “Still to build” is the audit’s remaining capacity at 31 March 2025. “2025–2030” adds up its expected completions for the five audit years 2025/26 to 2029/30.
- Each site is placed in the catchment that contains a point inside the site. The audit also names a primary school for each site; the two agree for 94 of 96 sites. Where they differ, the audit names a new school or two schools for one site.
- The figures are computed from the published data when this site is built, not typed in by hand. You can reproduce them on either dataset page with the SQL tab.