Vu.City Licence Renewal

Since October 2020, OPDC has used the Vu.City 3D urban modelling digital
platform to inform the production of planning guidance, inform the development
management process and support public consultation exercises. Vu.City is an
invaluable tool in considering the appropriateness of policy and development
proposals in relation to heights and massing and in presenting proposals to internal
and external stakeholders.

Vu.City is used by the majority of London boroughs and is used by many private
built environment sector organisations. This enables the effective and efficient
sharing of information to support planning processes.

Continued use of Vu.City will:

• assist officers in thoroughly and efficiently assessing emerging development proposals in the preparation of planning policy, pre application discussions and for planning applications.
• allow for development proposals to be more effectively presented to ODPC’s Planning Committee, Board and other stakeholders as appropriate.
• support OPDC in producing 3D visualisations of the future regeneration of the area by allowing OPDC to the “host” the master 3D model of the area.
• support officers in developing planning guidance for appropriate heights and massing within the OPDC area.
• support more effective community engagement on planning policy and planning applications through accessible visualisations.

This decision seeks the continued use of Vu.City by renewing the current licence
for two years. The annual cost is expected to remain the same as the previous two
years at £5,000 per year; however, officers have included an uplift of £1,000 for
each of the forthcoming two years sought for approval to account for any potential
increase in costs relating to inflation.

Two previous Delegated Authority Records record the procurement and renewal of
the Vu.City licence:

• DAR 217 for £5,000 from the 2020/21 Planning Policy budget.
• DAR 299 for £5,000 to be split between 2021/22 and 2022/23 budget.

The total cost for the previous two years and the next two years would be £22,000.

The Vu.City licence will be initially renewed for a 12-month period from 20 October
2022 and subsequently renewed for a second 12-month period from 20 October
2023. This Decision is partially retrospective accounting for the time lapsed
between 20 October 2022 and procurement of services in December 2022.

The licence enables OPDC to access and utilise a web-based 3D urban modelling
digital platform for the whole of London to inform the planning of the OPDC area,
deliver a high-quality built environment and secure benefits for local communities.

The licence allows for 10 individual “user” licences for OPDC staff members. All
staff can be provided with access to the platform, with individual user licences
allocated and unallocated as necessary. The licence secures ongoing direct
support from Vu.City and training of new officers in its use.

The licence will be procured via Transport for London procurement services
making use of the Reseller and Associated Services Framework.

The objective is to continue to make use of the Vu.City model to benefit various
workstreams across the planning and development directorates.

The outcomes will be a high quality and coordinated planning and development
process supporting the delivery of a high-quality built environment and coordination
with internal and external stakeholders that will ultimately benefit local
communities.

Outputs include:

• views assessments and visuals to support preparation of planning guidance, avoiding the need to procure consultancy services.
• modelling to inform pre-app discussions, helping to more thoroughly assess the impact of proposals at an early stage.
• demonstrating impact of proposed schemes in greater context at planning committee meetings.
• supporting work of the delivery directorate in producing 3D visuals to demonstrate the development opportunity at Old Oak and Park Royal.

Officers reviewed a range of 3D modelling providers considering functionality, cost
and usability. Vu.City is considered to offer the best value and will be procured via
Transport for London’s Reseller and Associated Services Framework.

It is expected that the continued use of the platform will continue to provide the
above benefits to OPDC. In addition, the platform will help officers to respond
positively to continued digitalisation of the planning system.

Continued use of Vu.City will help inform a number of existing and future OPDC
workstreams including:

• delivering policies SP9, D3, D4 and D5 regarding delivering a high-quality built environment with appropriate ranges of building heights.
• informing the development of future planning guidance relating to building heights and massing.
• informing the development management process, enabling officers to consider the appropriateness of the heights, massing and visual impacts of development proposals.
• supporting the implementation of OPDC’s Statement of Community Involvement and Engagement Strategy by providing accessible visualisations.

The Principal Planning Officer will be responsible for contract management. The
Senior Planning Officer will be responsible for the daily management and
managing of training for use of the VuCity model. The Senior Planning Officer will
report to the Principal Planning Officer and escalate any issues.
Risks and issues

If the licence is not renewed, it will compromise OPDC’s ability to function
efficiently as a local planning authority and to present guidance and development
proposals meaningfully to stakeholders. This could result in:

• delays to the development management process and delivery of new development including affordable homes.
• planning guidance and supporting studies that lack key building heights, massing and amenity information.
• the inability for OPDC to share heights and massing data with stakeholder and partners.
• difficulties for members of the public and interested parties understanding proposed developments and planning guidance.

Under Section 149 of the Equality Act 2010, as a public authority, OPDC must
have ‘due regard’ to the need to eliminate unlawful discrimination, harassment and
victimisation as well as to the need to advance equality of opportunity and foster
good relations between people who share a protected characteristic and those who
do not.12

Continuing use of the Vu.City model will enable the production of visualisations to
demonstrate how the future development could impact on its context. This will be
critically important for public consultants to enable people to engage with and provide their views on proposals. Although it is a digital model, the visualisations
would be provided in printed media as required. This will provide access for those
without internet.

This will benefit everyone, regardless of abilities, needs, genders, beliefs, and
identities. This will help contribute to delivering the key actions within OPDC’s
Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and will ensure that London is a fairer,
more inclusive, and more equal city.

Obtaining value for money

Officers are confident that the continued renewal of the existing licence with
Vu.City presents Planning officers with good value for money. This is based on the
extensive use of modelling and platform to date, existing training of officers to
utilise the platform and providing a consistent approach for sharing and presenting
built environmental data and visualisations in the public, private and community
sectors.

No one involved in the preparation or clearance of this Form, or its substantive
proposal, has any conflict of interest.

Taking the starting-point of the contract to be mid-October 2022, total expenditure
of £12,000 (including inflationary estimates) over two calendar years to be
apportioned between financial years as follows:

This disregards the value of licence costs already incurred this year through the
preceding licence, as these have already been approved.

Any further expenditure, including any additional inflationary cost rises in respect of
this Decision, are subject to the Corporation’s decision-making process.