autoplot.co.ukPage 1

Case Study

Nottinghill TerracedHouse

5th April 2016

10 Coulson StreetLondon SW3 3NGT 020 72507007M 0780 315 8566E james@autoplot.co.uk

autoplot.co.ukPage 2

Case Study Background

The client made a planning application to add a small roof extension to a modest sized London terraced house. The property is situated in the heart of Nottinghill , within the Kensington conservation area. The application was met with some stiff opposition from the neighbours and was rejected. The planner had concerns that the extension was going to infringe on the privacy of the neighbours. The architect had tried to address this concern in his design by adding a carefully positioned screen and setting the extension in from the parapet wall. The planner said he needed further confirmation that the design had allayed his concerns over privacy. The client wished to appeal and make further efforts to persuade the planner that his concerns had been met.

autoplot.co.uk

Approach

The approach for the appeal was to be two pronged. The architect’s view was that the best approach was to create a 3d model of the neighbourhood using Vectorworks and then use the model to show the different perspective views from all windows that the planner and neighbours were concerned with. A laser survey was chosen for two reasons. Firstly it is a very efficient way to obtain all of the relative measurements on which the architect would base his model and secondly the 3d model from the laser survey could also show the as-built structures and confirm the perspective views from the architects model.

Laser survey

A laser survey using a Faro S120 was carried out at the property from 9 different survey points; 2 at ground level in front of the house, 2 on the flat roof, 2 from a back side half balcony and 3 from the backside lower balcony. This survey took 3 hours from arriving at the property. The separate scans were combined into a point cloud using Faro Scene software, and from the point cloud a number of direct 2d orthophotographs (these being photographs geometrically corrected such that the scale is uniform) were produced, from which the architect was able to quickly pulloff measurements for use in building the "as-built" model in Vectorworks. Namely Front elevation of the terrace.Back elevation of the terrace.Back elevation of the rear neighbours properties across the shared garden.Front elevation of the front neighbours properties across the road. Sectional view of the client's house, showing the proximity of all the other properties Perspective views in the direction of the proposed extension from all of the windows which the planner had concerns.

Results

The orthophotographs were clear and easy for the architect to trace dimension from. Some of the perspective views included area which had not been scanned due to access issues, some obvious touching up of the images was carried out to aide the understanding of view. The views from the windows produced by the laser software Scene and views produced by VectorWorks modelling were very similar. The laser software images have the advantage of being photo realistic and should give added confidence to the viewer that the VectorWorks model has been correctly modelled and that the results can be relied upon. The sectional views excellently described the site lines and conclusively proved his model. The planning appeal is still on going.

Page 3

autoplot.co.ukPage 4

Point of View

During a contentious planning application it is often difficult to obtain all the necessary dimensionsto model the environment as often the neighbours understandably do not want to help with the planning efforts by allowing access.

With laser scanning this shouldn’t be an issue. You can measure between any two points that you can see. Add this to extremely quick data capture and photo realistic results and it explains why laser scanning is quickly become an efficient and cost effective first step in any planning application. The total cost of the laser scanning and additional studio time was £1,200.00. To build this VectorWorks model of the "as-built" environment would add another £975.00 If you have a project you think might benefit from laser scanning then please contact me and I will gladlydiscuss its suitability and be able to quickly give you an estimate of the fees.

5m

5m

Project / NottinghillDrawing / Section C

Image size / 18.705, 15.2475 mScale / 10:1

x axis

z axis

5m

5m

Project / NottinghillDrawing / Section B

Image size / 18.705, 15.2475 mScale / 10:1

x axis

z axis

5m

5m

Project / NottinghillDrawing / Section D

Image size / 18.705, 15.2475 mScale / 10:1

x axis

z axis

5m

5m

x axis

z axis

A B

Project / NottinghillDrawing / Section E

Image size / 18.705, 15.2475 mScale / 10:1

5m

5m

Project / NottinghillDrawing / Section B

Image size / 18.705, 15.2475 mScale / 10:1

x axis

z axis

5m

5m

Project / No 36 Kensington PlaceDrawing / Section B showing architects 2d model of property and sight lines

Image size / 54.69, 15.2475 mScale / 10:1

5m

5m

Section B

Section C

Section E

Section A

Section D

Project / NottinghillDrawing / Plan

Image size / 18.705, 15.2475 mScale / 10:1

5m

5m

Project / NottinghillDrawing / Perspective view from window B by Vector Graphics

Project / NottinghillDrawing / Perspective view from window B by laser scan

Project / NottinghillDrawing / Perspective view from window A by VectorsGraphics

Project / NottinghillDrawing / Perspective view from window A by laser scan