Landscape and visual assessment experience includes the preparation of Landscape and Visual Impact Assessments (LVIAs) and Landscape and Visual Appraisals (LVAs) for a wide range of development types, from residential settlement-edge schemes and rural diversification projects to commercial campuses, energy infrastructure and mixed-use development. This work has involved identifying landscape and visual constraints, assessing landscape value and sensitivity, reviewing published character evidence, preparing representative viewpoint analysis, and providing design recommendations to help avoid, reduce or mitigate potential adverse effects.
Relevant residential and settlement-edge projects include Ramsey, Huntingdonshire, where a Landscape and Visual Appraisal informed proposals for 100 new homes on the western edge of the settlement. The assessment identified key sensitivities associated with views from the open countryside and helped shape a landscape-led strategy, including strategic woodland planting, retention and enhancement of existing habitat boundaries, and a connected Green Infrastructure framework. Similar assessment work has been undertaken at Sprowston, Norfolk, where an LVIA informed a mixed-use scheme of approximately 400 homes and 1,500sqm of non-residential floorspace, balancing development requirements with landscape integration, visual containment and the creation of a sustainable new community.
Further LVA experience includes a range of smaller and medium-scale residential and rural-edge projects. At West Lane, Horsham St Faith, the appraisal considered a proposal for three detached bungalows on greenfield land at the edge of the settlement, assessing the relationship between the low-rise development, existing settlement edge and surrounding agricultural landscape. At Hemingford Road, St Ives, the LVA considered a 20-dwelling proposal on an enclosed backland site with a strong vegetation framework, where the assessment helped address the relationship with the adjoining settlement, retained trees and scrub, and the transition to the wider countryside.
Commercial and employment-related assessment work includes the South Cambridge Science Centre at Dale Manor Business Park, Sawston, where an LVA informed the redevelopment of previously developed land within an established business park context. The proposal included flexible commercial and laboratory buildings, a transport hub and wellness centre, with a landscape strategy structured around a central pedestrian spine, courtyard spaces, peripheral planting, wildflower areas, green roofs and green infrastructure. The assessment considered the relationship between the proposed commercial scale, the existing industrial/business park character, nearby residential receptors and the surrounding landscape.
Rural and infrastructure-related projects include Grove Farm, Raveningham Road, Stockton, where an LVA assessed agricultural development within a rural farmstead setting, and Home Farm, Tewkesbury and Wychavon, where an LVA considered the landscape and visual effects of a proposed electricity substation and associated infrastructure within an agricultural landscape influenced by existing pylons, overhead power lines and energy infrastructure. Across these projects, the assessment work has focused on proportionate, clearly reasoned professional judgement, ensuring that landscape and visual matters are properly understood from the earliest stages of design and planning.