Even before the bridge had been built, Edinburgh Town Council were making preparations for building the Eastern New Town, which would stretch from the slopes of Calton Hill, north to Leith, between Leith Walk and Easter Road. The Lord Provost made an agreement with the main landowners in 1811, some initial surveying was done and there was a competition for architectural plans for the development that on 1 January 1813, the results of which were inconclusive. A number of prominent architects were then asked for their opinions: William Stark, James Gillespie, Robert Burn and his son William Burn, John Paterson and Robert Reid and others.