Urban Design Consultants

We regularly assist landowners and potential developers to explore the development capacity of their site.

Testing site capacity helps overcome the challenges of finding a site for your project, assessing the feasibility of an existing site, developing a planning approval strategy, and providing clear design direction for the project architect.

Working alongside our Planning and Transport team, we analyse the potential of your site, and provide advice on possible risks and opportunities to inform an achievable development outcome.

We prepare urban design statements to accompany a range of planning applications.

An urban design statement can assist to represent a site, its context and design influences, set out the design rationale for the project and discuss its merits with visual support.

This also allows for design issues to be anticipated at outset of the planning approval process.

Our Urban Design team has experience preparing concept masterplans for greenfield, brownfield and infill new community developments.

We specialise in smaller-scale subdivisions, high-level strategies, and frameworks for townships and activity centres. We regularly work with professional project teams and understand the importance of effective and timely communication.

We understand the practical challenges of meeting civil engineering and road network requirements. Our team listens to our clients, identifies challenges and opportunities for each setting and applies our extensive multidisciplinary experience in designing sustainable master-planned communities.

Through our innovative design solutions, we respond not only to our client’s requirements but also to the changing needs of an emerging communities and markets. Our layouts balance the need to maximise yield with the necessity of delivering high-quality planning and design outcomes.

Our expertise across a wide variety of development types and scales forms a strong foundation of knowledge that is regularly sought for the purpose of expert testimony to Civil and Administrative Tribunals, Planning Panels and Advisory Committees.

Our urban design experts regularly provide specialist urban design analysis and advice at the RFI stage of the planning application process as well as for the settlement of plans at mediation or compulsory conferences.
Prior to forming advice, we undertake site and context analysis, and a detailed assessment of the architectural plans is to inform our expert opinion.

We produce precise photomontages and renders that communicate design intent for planning submissions and VCAT matters, using accepted technical methodologies.

For VCAT proceedings, our photomontages can form part of an expert evidence report, accurately representing proposed built form, signage and infrastructure within a range of existing contexts.

Peer reviews are commissioned by a range of stakeholders during the approval process, including the private development sector, lawyers, decision makers and advisors.

Independent peer reviews are carried out for a range of project categories, from small-scale infill developments, built form assessment and visual and shadow analysis, to masterplan and subdivision proposals.

Our review and recommendations can result in the preparation of a revised masterplan or subdivision layout or an amended built form site planning approach.

Built form modelling can test the capacity of the site and potential impacts, and demonstrate the effect of a proposal as part of an urban design statement or expert evidence report.

We use a range of 3D techniques to explore the form of buildings on a site and to place them within a built form context.

Visual Impact Assessment (VIA) is a multi-step systematic process used to evaluate the potential visual impact of proposed built forms on their surrounding environment.

Our VIA services assist our clients in ensuring that proposed developments contribute positively to the urban fabric and maximise objectivity throughout the decision-making process.

We undertake a range of public realm analysis and design exercises.

Our team adopt a people and place approach that ensures streets and public spaces are accessible, safe and attractive for all.

We are highly aware of the interactions between movement and place and frequently collaborate with our Transport team on streetscape studies that consider a full range of users and transport modes.