With an interest in sustainable landscape planning and design, Nigel Buchan has over thirty years of experience of working in both private and public sectors.

Nigel studied for his first degree in landscape architecture at Edinburgh College of Art and went on to win a Fulbright scholarship for a master's degree at Harvard. He worked in New York before returning to the UK in 1985 where he spent the next six years in the private sector. In 1991 he became landscape planner and design advisor to Thames Chase Community Forest, a joint initiative between the Forestry Commission, Countryside Commission and several local authorities.

In 1993 he joined Scottish Natural Heritage in Edinburgh where, initially, he managed the national programme of Landscape Character Assessment, working alongside local authorities,the Forestry Commission, Historic Scotland and the other countryside agencies. In 1997 he became manager of a team of nine landscape advisers, together providing landscape advice on statutory consultations throughout Scotland. In 2003 he was appointed as Landscape Assessor to the South Downs National Park Public Inquiry, reporting to the Planning Inspectorate (DEFRA).