Landscape & Visual Impact Assessment Consultancy

Sweco’s landscape architecture experts can carry out thorough Landscape & Visual Impact Assessments to paint a full picture of your development and how it will affect a proposed site and its surroundings.

A Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment (LVIA) evaluates how a proposed development or change to the built or natural environment may affect landscape character and visual experience across rural, coastal, peri-urban and urban settings. It considers how the proposal would integrate with landform, vegetation, skylines, scenic composition and distant views, and how it would be perceived from key viewpoints and across the surrounding landscape or townscape.

Combining technical analysis, geospatial data, site-based assessment, photography, digital visualisations and professional judgement, Sweco’s landscape architects will assesses the sensitivity of receptors – including people, communities and landscape or heritage assets – the magnitude of change and the resulting significance of effects. Assessments support planning applications, design development, stakeholder engagement and decision-making.

Frequently asked questions

What will a Landscape & Visual Impact Assessment tell me?

1. Which locations will the proposal be visible from(and to what degree)?
2. How will views and landscape character change for residents, recreational users and road/rail users?
3. Is the proposal likely to be perceived as dominant, intrusive, or assimilated into the landscape?
4. What are reasonable, design-led mitigation options to reduce visual harm?

What does an LVIA involve?

1. Desk review of landscape character assessments and local planning policy
2. Site survey and systematically photographed viewpoints (winter and summer if needed)
3. Zone of Theoretical Visibility (ZTV) / viewshed mapping
4. Wireline drawings and verified photomontages from agreed representative viewpoints
5. Landscape character and visual receptor sensitivity assessment
6. Sequential assessments for linear transport corridors (where relevant)

What is the output of an LVIA?

1. Illustrated baseline (maps, landscape character summary)
2. Set of verified photomontages and wirelines for planning submission
3. Clear tables showing sensitivity, magnitude of change and significance
4. Recommendations for mitigation: earthworks, planting, screening, orientation, materials and lighting strategy
5. Plain-language summary for consultees and decision-makers