Sheffield

Sheffield

VU.CITY Sheffield is a stunning 3D model that’s accurate to within 15cm. Explore potential massing, import and test refined designs, highlight pain points and realise opportunities.

Now all stakeholders can collaborate on solutions for smarter decisions and project success.

#N/Asq km
MODELLED TO 15CM ACCURACY
192,264
TREES, ACCURATE TO HEIGHT & CANOPY
48,753
Buildings
sq km
MODELLED TO 15CM ACCURACY
TREES, ACCURATE TO HEIGHT & CANOPY
Buildings

Sheffield is thriving and developing into a modern, 21st century city for people to live in and businesses to thrive in. Sheffield City Council is forward-thinking and has already played a key role in flagship projects which have changed the city’s image over the last decade, including Heart of the City, The Moor and Castlegate, as well as major infrastructures such as Lower Don Valley Flood Defence Scheme, with significant investment coming from Sheffield’s universities and global industry leaders such as Boeing and McLaren.

Investment is now at an all-time high and major regeneration programmes are set to take place across the city. The £1.5bn transformation of Sheffield coupled with the arrival of HS2 and focus on the Northern Powerhouse will see these trends continue, so understanding the potential for any new scheme and de-risking it will be vital. VU.CITY’s digital planning and design platform helps predict and examine the impact of change in cities and on the environment. The more that everyone involved can collaborate, the lower the risks.

As the major city at the heart of a wider city region, Sheffield needs to increasingly assert its role as one of the main drivers of economic growth in the north of England. A new Sheffield Local Plan will guide the future of the city by setting out how and where development will take place up to 2038, with the intention to build around 40,000 new homes over the next 20 years to cater for the growing population there. The Sheffield Plan will cover the whole of Sheffield City Council area, except for the area within the Peak District National Park, respecting Sheffield’s natural environment and the city’s identity and heritage. With VU.CITY enabling proposals to be seen clearly and readily understood at last, increasing the likelihood of a project and agreement all the way from public consultation to planning committee is all the more straightforward.

Users of VU.CITY Sheffield are benefiting from the model from being able to understand and assess a site’s opportunities and challenges, testing refined designs in context, enhancing pre-app conversations and planning submissions, to improving how everyone involved collaborates.

Get your Free 7-day Trial

Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.

VU.CITY Sheffield: Highlights

Create, edit and assess massing

Easily test massing to understand design feasibility.

Assess multiple initial massing options at an early stage and GEA potential quickly with VU.CITY Sheffield.
Test Massing

Assess multiple initial massing options at an early stage and GEA potential quickly.

VU.CITY Consented Schemes Timeline. View all major consented schemes across Sheffield.
Consented Schemes Timeline

Realise a site’s potential by viewing and assessing recently consented developments across Sheffield.

Easily import your designs from external 3D software (such as Revit, Rhino, SketchUp & 3ds Max) into the Sheffield model and test how they will work in situ.
Import Designs

Easily import your designs from external 3D software (such as Revit, Rhino, SketchUp & 3ds Max) into the Sheffield model and test how they will work in situ.

Quickly view and assess the initial impact of light from your proposed developments in VU.CITY’s model of Sheffield.
Sunlight Analysis

Quickly view and assess the initial impact of light from your proposed developments.

Conduct high-level townscape and visual impact assessments with an accurate 3D model of Sheffield.
Camera Studies and Presenter Tool

Conduct high-level townscape and visual impact assessments. Agree on key views to analyse further. Select key views and confidentially present your proposals to take stakeholder on the journey of design.

Use an accurate 3D model of Sheffield to assess where your scheme can be seen from with Zone of Theoretical Visibility.
Zone of Theoretical Visibility

Save time by eliminating unnecessary views for analysis. Understand where your scheme can be seen from and which views are critical to assess.

Work more collaboratively on designs with VU.CITY's 3D model of Sheffield
Annotate with Tags

Mark up comments and actions and easily collaborate on a site or scheme with project team members.

Sheffield_Hub
Scope, Design & Collaborate

VU.CITY's project collaboration space, the Hub, allows you to seamlessly communicate with stakeholders, to make better design & planning decisions, faster.

   Data Layers

   Data Layers

Consented Schemes Timeline

   Data Layers

Listed Buildings

   Data Layers

Trees

   Data Layers

Scheduled Monuments

   Data Layers

Annual Average Household Income 2021

   Data Layers

Deprivation Index 2021

   Data Layers

Population Density 2021

Sheffield Coverage

Can't see your area? Get in touch.  
VU.CITY is constantly expanding in coverage.

SUBMITTING A SCHEME FOR ANALYSIS

How can using VU.CITY benefit my application?

Create smart cities the smart way

VU.CITY helps organise, visualise, and analyse city data in the clearest and most accessible way to make better decisions.

VU.CITY covers the whole of London and 25 major UK and international cities.

Quickly identify and appraise sites.  VU.CITY's visualization, design functionality and planning data, allow you to optimise your designs.

Transform design and planning

Now everyone involved can have a clear, universal understanding of what’s proposed and why, in a single, secure place. VU.CITY makes decision-making democratic and fair.

Build trust and collaboration

Remove barriers and minimise risks early. Have confidence in your designs and plans. Increase buy-in for project success.

Improve
outcomes
Test out ideas in situ, from one building to a masterplan. Create your vision and submissions with confidence.
Collate site information in one place
Communicate complex spatial arrangements
Make documentation stand up and stand out
Speed up planning conversations
Strengthen relationships
Create winning submissions
Discover where there is potential for change, and help everyone easily understand what’s involved and why.
Collate site information in one place
Communicate complex spatial arrangements
Speed up the planning process
Speed up planning conversations
Strengthen relationships
Create winning submissions
Reduce guesswork and unwanted costs – make the right decisions for the right outcomes, faster.
Appraise site capacity and viability, faster
Save time and costs through collaboration
Reduce planning uncertainties; increase buy-in
Speed up the planning process with better informed decisions
Sell or lease earlier to realise profits sooner
Understand designs and plans with ease, and make decisions with clarity to benefit your city and your communities.
Make the best possible decisions, quicker
Collate site, scheme and planning information in one place
Standardise decision-making
Have informed and transparent conversations
Improve how you consult on policies and plans
Understand the cumulative effects of planning changes

In your words

“We’re bringing in architects and our clients and different consultants in one room and we’re viewing the drawing, the architecture and the massing through VU.CITY.”
Charlotte Orrell
Senior Planner at Iceni Projects
"VU.CITY gives us the full visual story in a matter of seconds."
VU.CITY logo
Paul Finch
Editor - Architects Journal
"The digitisation of planning as outlined in the Whitepaper presents an exciting step in speeding up the planning process and improving engagement with communities. We are already working with VU.CITY and some of our local authority partners to be a leader in digital consultation in line with the ambitions outlined in the new government Whitepaper."
VU.CITY logo
David Bloy
Planning Director - British Land

Get your Free 7-Day Trial

VU.CITY is all yours to try out. Let your imagination run free in designing, planning and seeing an entire city develop right before your eyes. 

No download. No ties. No credit card required. 

See for yourself why leading architects, developers and planners across the UK and Ireland trust VU.CITY to help them understand projects in context and bring everyone, everywhere together.

If you are a student please fill in our free student licence form.