Colinton Tunnel Mural Project

Consultation  |  Planning  

Winner of the 2021 AHI Engaging People Awards for a community project.

This project transformed a dark and dingy former railway tunnel on the Water of Leith Walkway in Colinton, Edinburgh. Local artist Chris Rutterford designed Scotland's longest historical mural (140 metres!), which he then painted with the help of schools and community groups. My role was to provide Chris with stories and historical images to inform his work, gathered through conversations with local residents and historians. Robert Louis Stevenson had connections to Colinton and the mural displays his poem ‘From a Railway Carriage’ alongside illustrates of the scenes he mentions. These reference many elements of local heritage including the former mills along the  river. Since completion, visitation to the tunnel has increased threefold and it attracts people from across Edinburgh and beyond.

​