Our approach
We assess how a project will change the landscape and the views people value, we show that change accurately, and we design the response. The work sits inside the same practice that prepares urban design strategies and planning reports, so the visual assessment shapes the design rather than arriving after it.
Start a project
Tell us about the project and we will come back with a scope within a week. The first stage is always a fixed fee, and the storyboard can form part of that first stage.
Where the visual work sits
Visual impact is now one of the most contested topics at planning panels and commissions. A clear, defensible assessment shortens the approval pathway and gives the design team something to respond to.
Where it starts
Scoping and reference design. We map where the project can be seen from, identify the people and places most affected, and agree the viewpoints and method with the assessing authority before any photography is done.
What we produce
The assessment, the images and the chapter. The technical report, verified photomontages and the exhibited chapter are written, rendered and laid out by the same people, so the document reads clearly to a community member and a decision maker alike.
What it leads to
Design responses that hold up. Mitigation becomes corridor and precinct design guidance, performance requirements and public realm outcomes, which is the urban design work this practice is built on.
What we offer
Five services, engaged together or on their own.
01 Verified photomontages and visualisation
Camera matched photomontages, wireframes and rendered views produced from the project model to the Landscape Institute standard, with the camera data on every sheet. Also available as production capacity to other assessment practices and to design teams that need verified views rather than artist's impressions.
Typical outputs: existing and proposed view pairs, 53.5 and 90 degree presentations, wireframes, before and after sequences, community summary graphics.
02 Design integration and mitigation
The design response to what the assessment finds: corridor and precinct design guidelines, landscape treatments, structure siting and screening, and the wording of performance requirements and permit conditions so that mitigation is enforceable and buildable.
Typical outputs: urban and landscape design guidelines, mitigation plans, performance requirement drafting, design review input.
03 Visual scoping and constraints
Early work that tells the project team where visual risk sits before the design is fixed. Viewshed and zone of visibility mapping, sensitive receptor identification, viewpoint selection and a method statement aligned to the relevant state guideline.
Typical outputs: visual constraints map, receptor schedule, viewpoint proposal, method statement for agency agreement.
04 Landscape and visual impact assessment
The full technical report and exhibited chapter for an Environment Effects Statement, Environmental Impact Statement or permit application: landscape character, visual receptors, magnitude and significance of change, cumulative effects, and mitigation, structured to the template the assessing authority expects.
Typical outputs: technical report, EES or EIS chapter, dwelling assessment sheets, submissions response, modification addenda.
05 Independent review for councils and agencies
A review of an assessment prepared by others, covering method against the guideline, viewpoint selection, the reasonableness of the ratings, the accuracy of the images and whether the proposed mitigation can actually be enforced. We do not act for proponents on their own assessments, so there is no conflict in reviewing one.
Typical outputs: review report, submission drafting, briefing to councillors or the agency panel.
Method and guidelines
Guidelines for Landscape and Visual Impact Assessment, 3rd edition (Landscape Institute and IEMA)
Landscape Institute Technical Guidance Note 06/19, visual representation
Transport for NSW EIA-N04, landscape character and visual impact
NSW Wind Energy Guideline Technical Supplement (2024) and Solar Energy Guideline
Victorian wind energy guidelines and the Handbook for the Development of Renewable Energy (2025)
Queensland State Code 23 and TMR landscape and visual guidance
Who we work with
Environment and approvals leads inside joint ventures and alliances on rail, road and transmission projects
Developers of energy, data centre and industrial projects preparing a permit or impact statement
Councils and agencies that need an independent view of an assessment prepared by others
Other landscape and visual practices that need Melbourne based photography, photomontage and chapter production capacity