Oxford is known as the city of dreaming spires and protecting these is of key importance.

With 18 conservation areas and over 1,200 listed buildings, Oxford is famed for its historic buildings and skyline, so any interplay with the skyline must make a positive contribution: the city therefore has a series of strategically important view cones which are protected views from ten different aspects and are key to planning policy. VU.CITY Oxford allows for many of these long range views to be fully analysed, and the impact of a scheme on the skyline to be understood. Features, such as the AOD tool, allows for height sensitivities in the centre of the city to be considered easily. 

Oxford’s notable past is set to be matched by an interesting future as it anticipates significant economic and population growth: the OxCams Arc is a significant area between Oxford, Milton Keynes and Cambridge and a government ambition for securing sustainable growth and prosperity for all. 

Oxford’s situational constraints raise questions about the need for increased density in areas with potential for development. While daylight, sunlight and privacy will be among the many important considerations, VU.CITY Oxford makes examining such constraints, in both the present and the future, easy and straightforward to ensure that Oxford’s famed picture-postcard views remain here to stay.

Users of VU.CITY Oxford include Cityscape Digital, Oxford City Council, Oberlanders and Hawkins\Brown who are using the model’s many benefits, from being able to understand and assess a site’s opportunities and challenges, testing designs in context, enhancing pre-app conversations and planning submissions, to improving how everyone involved collaborates.