Engaging in the 3rd and 4th dimensions Mark Kilgallon 20 Mar 2018





To quote my colleague Dominic Smith in his recent blog about the Language of Public Consultation:

Consultation and engagement with local communities plays an ever increasing role in the planning system and the preparation of planning applications

As part of Lichfields’ graphic design team, I produce quality consultation materials for face to face and digital events every day.





The use of high quality technical drawings and 3D renders of a proposed scheme helps to bring a scheme to life. However, they can be difficult to interpret for those who aren’t used to reading them. It’s therefore important that we explore other ways of engaging with stakeholders and communities to ‘put them at the heart’ of the scheme they are reviewing. Here are some ways in which this can be done:

3D printing

Historically, whilst extremely helpful, cost and time have been barriers to supplying hand-made scale models for consultation use. In recent years, the growth in 3D printing (which has been compared to the second industrial revolution) has seen a rise in businesses using 3D printing as a tool to produce models easier, faster and cheaper. See my blog 3D Printing in construction, health and manufacturing for further detail. Scale models give you the freedom to walk around a project, pick up individual elements and to view it from any angle. By using 3D printing, models are now far easier to produce accurately and economically to engage more widely in the planning process.