Edinburgh Park was EDI's first project and remains its largest.  Over the last fifteen years, a site of 135 acres on the west side of Edinburgh has been transformed into "one of the best business parks in Europe" as stated by the Brisith Council for Offices.

Edinburgh Park is now home to many of the country's top performing companies, providing them with modern office accommodation and good transport links.  However, the qualities of the site go far beyond 'bricks and mortar', and Edinburgh Park has been designed for the 7,000 people who currently work there and the many who will visit there.

EDI's aim for Edinburgh Park was, and still is, to create a pleasant and stimulating palce to work; a philosophy reflected in the quality of the architeture and the landscape, and in the range of commercial and social facilities on offier.

Twenty of the best architectural practices in North America and Europe were invited to tender and, after drawing up a short list and interviewing five firms - including two from Scotland - EDI appointed New York architects Richard Meier & Associated to prepare a master plan for ther site in the late 1980s. 

The original plan envisaged 210,000 sq m (2.25 million sq ft) of office accommodation.  It was laid out using an eight-metre Cartesian grid; a historical reference to James Craig's 1766 plan for Edinburgh's New Town, but the key feature was that it would be set in parkland around three lochans. 

Today, the 'park within a park' represents a very accessible social space for workers and visitors.  And it is that, perhaps, which sets out Edinburgh park from many other business parks, whre formal landscaping is mainly for decoration.  EDI's vision was to create a landscape which could be used and enjoyed.

After establishing the project, EDI invited the Miller Group to form New Edinburgh Limited (NEL), a joint venture to continue the phased development of the site.  Soon after, the first occupier, John Menzies Wholesale, moved into their award-winning headquarters building, designed by Bennetts Associates Architects.  Menzies were followed by Scottish Equitable (now Aegon), who relocated their HQ from central Edinburgh and set the trend for other financial and IT organisations.

In the majority of cases, NEL speculatively developed buildings and, once let, sold the investment.  A few early sites were sold to companies to design and build offices to their own specifications.  However, just as the layout of the Park as a whole is governed by the rigours of an eight-metre grid, so must all new developments follow agreed design guidelines.  In addition to normal planning regulations, new-build proposals must be assessed and approved by an independent Design Review Committee.

Within the Park numerous artworks have been errected, from a series of twelve herms of twentieth century Scottish poets, through poetry bus shelters to stained glass windows in the Station.  These contribute to making the Gyle area Britain's largest urban sculpture park.

More than 7,000 people now work in Edinburgh Park.  Commuting is addressed by generous car parking provisions, bus routes through the Park, a railway station and Scotland's  first corporate car-sharing scheme - co-ordinated through the Park's own intranet site.  Staff are encouraged to treat the landscape around their offices as usable recreational space - not just something to look at - and cycling clubs and jogging clubs have been formed.

The combination of art, landscaping and the design of the buildings themselves is very much typical of EDI's approach to development and, while it remains an overriding objective for EDI and its partner that Edinburgh Park retains and enhances its reputation as one of the leading business parks in Europe, a focus on the individuals who work there remains paramount.