We produce planning-grade CGI renders, photomontages, verified-view montages (VVM), and Accurate Visual Representations (AVR Levels 0 to 3 per the London View Management Framework) for London architects, developers, and planning consultants. Each visual is scoped against the relevant Local Planning Authority (LPA) validation list, application route and decision context, so the planning team can explain scale, massing, material and townscape effects clearly.
Request a quoteBorough local validation lists and the London Plan together determine when CGI visualisations are expected, and the criteria differ by council. Tower Hamlets weighs high-poly context for major residential schemes; Camden prioritises roofline profiles in conservation areas; Southwark flags daylight overshadowing; Hackney, Islington and Lambeth focus on infill massing; and in West London, Hammersmith and Fulham and the high-density Wandsworth corridors expect highly detailed contextual montages.
References: Tower Hamlets local validation list: CGI Visualisations, the London Plan tall-building policy, and the London View Management Framework supplementary planning guidance.
Each deliverable answers a different question a borough planning officer or committee will ask. The right mix depends on the site, the policy context, and what the case officer has requested at pre-application. Planning visuals sit within our wider range of London architectural visualisation services.
A CGI is an illustrative photorealistic image of the proposed building from agreed viewpoints. We use it to communicate design intent, materials, and massing inside Design and Access Statements, Heritage Statements, and Planning Committee packs.
We composite the proposed scheme into a real photograph of the site or street. Photomontage is non-verified by default: perspective and scale are matched by eye against your supplied site image.
A verified view aligns the montage to survey control points captured with a total station, plus camera GPS, bearing, focal length, and tripod height. The image carries an alignment summary so case officers, statutory consultees, committee members and inspectors can trace how the geometry was set. See our dedicated verified views.
AVR images follow the four London View Management Framework levels: AVR 0 wireline or outline, AVR 1 massing (location and visibility), AVR 2 architectural form including openings and shading, and AVR 3 materials, texture and reflections. The format is used for LVMF Strategic Views, Protected Views, and tall-building applications.
The visual package changes with the application route. A householder side return needs a single contextual view; an LVMF tall-building scheme needs verified AVR3 views from multiple protected viewpoints.
Extensions, loft conversions, and side returns. Visuals showing impact on neighbours and street character.
New build and substantial alteration. Design, materials, and street context in one package.
Sensitive visualisation of alterations to listed fabric and the setting around it.
Context-led views showing how the proposal reads inside the designated area.
Early-stage massing studies and parameter plans before detailed design.
Permitted development routes (Class MA, Class AA, upward extensions). Quick-turnaround compliance visuals.
As-built and existing-use documentation where accurate representation is needed.
Visuals prepared for inquiry, hearing, or written representations following refusal.
We work in a clear sequence with one structured refinement round. For the wider commission flow across other services, see how a CGI commission runs from brief to final delivery.
We are the visualisation specialist on your project's planning team, not the planning consultant. Working within a defined scope keeps the visuals defensible and responsibilities clear. For schemes requiring high-precision visual evidence under TGN 06/19, we transition from illustrative CGIs to a survey-accurate verified views workflow. When evaluating regional skyline impacts or LVMF corridors, these views directly support a statutory townscape and visual impact assessment. For projects requiring photo-matched contexts without full georeferenced surveying, our tailored architectural photomontage for London planning is the ideal contextual format.
Below are three recent scope examples where the visual package responded to a specific officer concern at pre-application, a conservation context, and a defined viewpoint requirement. Each project ran through the same five-step sequence and was scoped against a different deliverable mix.
Brief. A two-storey gap between a row of Edwardian semi-detached houses inside a Wandsworth conservation area. The developer was returning to planning after an earlier refusal and needed visuals that defended a revised three-storey infill against neighbour overshadowing objections.
Approach. We built four photomontages from agreed pavement viewpoints, an AVR 2 architectural-form study aligned to the neighbouring parapets, and an illustrative daylight overlay showing massing shadow against the closest first-floor window opposite. The architect supplied a clean RVT model, which shortened cleanup time, and we delivered the first-pass preview render inside the standard five-working-day window.
6 deliverables, packaged as a single design and access statement appendix.
Brief. A backland infill plot behind a Victorian terrace in Lambeth, with the proposed three-storey dwelling overlooking three separate rear gardens. The case officer asked for context-led CGIs and an illustrative overshadowing overlay showing massing shadow along a sensitive border with the adjacent conservation area to the north. Formal BRE 209 daylight and sunlight calculations were referred out to a specialist consultant.
Approach. We produced two contextual exterior CGIs from the public pavement, one verified-view photomontage from the affected rear garden, and an annotated overshadowing diagram for the officer's report. Drawings arrived as DWG, and neighbouring massing was modelled from OS MasterMap so the viewpoint geometry was traceable at officer review.
4 deliverables, packaged for the case officer's report.
Brief. A two-storey rooftop residential extension above a 1930s commercial building in Southwark, sitting inside a conservation area and overlooked by listed Victorian warehouses on three sides. The architect needed an AVR 3 verified view from a nearby arterial road to address townscape impact at committee.
Approach. We coordinated a topographic survey of the existing rooftop with three control points, captured RAW photographs at the agreed AVR 3 capture specification, and produced a survey-matched photomontage with an alignment summary listing camera GPS, bearing, lens, and RMS pixel error. An illustrative daylight overlay against the nearest listed window completed the pack.
4 deliverables, packaged as a survey-controlled committee appendix.