News 01.02.2022

Karen Lees speaks at Landscape Institute’s ‘LVIA-raising the bar’ masterclass

On Tuesday 1st February, Principal Landscape Architect Karen Lees gave an online presentation to landscape and planning practitioners on improving the quality standards of Landscape Visual Impact Assessments. The masterclass, which was coordinated by the GLVIA panel, discussed common issues that often lead to LVIAs being considered unreliable or incomplete and addressed key areas, including assessing effects on the special qualities of protected landscapes, drawing upon the guidance from the GLVIA3 report. Karen’s presentation covered issues in assigning susceptibility and value to visual receptors.

Other key themes that came out of the masterclass included:

  • Common issues with LVIAs from an LPA perspective
  • How to define geographic extent in landscape character assessment
  • What the baseline of an LVIA should usefully contain
  • Undertaking LVIAs in protected landscapes
  • Undertaking photography for visualisations, including at night time