A peripheral district of SE Edinburgh, Greendykes lies to the southwest of Niddrie and southeast of Craigmillar, close to the border with Midlothian. Lying to the south of the Thistle Foundation 'garden village', the area was developed on a greenfield site as a public housing estate from the 1960s. A pair of tower blocks (Wauchope House and Greendykes House) were completed in 1966 and later surrounded by tenements and deck-access maisonettes. The tower blocks each comprise 86 flats arranged over fifteen storeys and were constructed by Cruden Ltd. Having become one of the most deprived areas in Scotland, redevelopment was planned as part of the Greater Craigmillar area master-plan by the City of Edinburgh Council's development arm EDI Group and their subsidiary PARC Craigmillar.
The redevelopment of Greendykes North was completed in 2009 and now consists of 90 homes, comprising a mix of privately-owned and award-winning social housing in the form of townhouses and flats arranged a home zone street. The low-rise flats of Greendykes South were demolished from 2009 and 900 new affordable homes were built over the following 15 years by Persimmon Homes and Taylor Wimpey. The tower blocks remained and were refurbished in 2015, with improvements including insulated cladding which reduced the risk of fuel poverty for tenants and enhanced the external appearance of the blocks.
Greendykes Early Years Centre lies to the north in Craigmillar.
