LONDON VIEW MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK (LVMF) 12/06/09
The Revised LVMF Draft SPG released on the 5th June, 2009, aims to balance the need to protect London’s visual heritage with the need to encourage development that allows London to remain a dynamic world city. The existing document is based on a draft SPG (2005) prepared by Miller Hare and Richard Coleman Citydesigner. When the draft was subject to public consultation we, as authors, recommended modifications to Mayor Livingstone. He rejected these and thus we resigned from the project. Now, under Mayor Johnson, we have been able to establish some of those modifications and incorporate more as required by the Mayor’s office. The scope of the document remains as set out by the London Plan of 2004 and its subsequent revisions. This states that the Mayor will establish and maintain the London View Management Framework starting with an initial list of 26 views divided into 4 groups: London Panoramas, Linear Views, River Prospects and Townscape Views. The review commissioned by Mayor Johnson included the following key objectives: • to consider alternative (widened) definitions for 10 of the 11 existing Protected Vistas • to improve protection for World Heritage Sites • to strengthen protection for 3 of the Townscape Views – from Island Gardens, the Serpentine Bridge and St James’s Park footbridge • to improve the clarity and ease of use for the whole document
Geometrically defined viewing constraints are provided to ensure that the current visibility of St Paul’s Cathedral and the Palace of Westminster is preserved and improved within the six established London Panoramas. The following specific changes to the SPG have been made: • the width of viewing corridors to St Paul’s have been increased from 70m to 80m at the dome. As before this is extended asymmetrically to include the Western Towers • wider Lateral Assessment Area has been defined to St Paul’s giving an overall width for the Protected Vistas towards St Paul’s of 300m, when measured at the Cathedral • comparable refinements have been made to the widths of viewing corridors to the Palace of Westminster from Parliament Hill and Primrose Hill • clarification has been given to the Assessment Point locations at Alexandra Palace and Greenwich, whereby the primary point relates to assessment of impact on the overall panorama (1A.1 and 5A.1), whereas secondary point is provided to allow for detailed assessment of impact close to the Protected Vista (1A.2 to 5A.2) • one additional Protected Vista has been defined between the summit of Parliament Hill and the Palace of Westminster assuming the eventual demolition of the Euston Tower
Linear Views are defined where important views are framed by existing landscape or built features. Currently there are 3 such views, two towards St Paul’s Cathedral and one toward Buckingham Palace. Views toward St Paul’s have been given the clearest definition by using a Protected Vista to ensure that the current level of visibility of the monument is preserved. In the new Draft, the following modifications have been made to Linear Views • the width of viewing corridors to St Paul’s have been increased from 70m to 80m at the dome • in the case of the view from King Henry’s Mound, Lateral Assessment Areas have been added, taking the overall width of the Protected Vista to 150m at the dome.
The 13 River Prospects comprise the largest part of the Framework. They represent the key views experienced by Londoners during their working days and by most of the capital’s tourists. They are views from the heart of London and allow close-up views of many of our favourite landmarks and are popular places to pause and enjoy our changing skyline. While Assessment Points have been selected to highlight many of the most iconic views of London and its landmarks, these points are often incidents experienced in motion, as a viewer crosses a bridge or moves along one of the Embankments. Changes to River Prospects include: • from each Assessment point a direction has been defined and used as the basis of photography to a standard format which records a 120 degree Horizontal Field of View. Assessment under the LVMF is not required outside the area shown in this photography. • attention has been drawn to those locations where assessment should take into account points between the defined Assessment Points. These are marked with a red dotted line on the Viewing location maps. In such cases tests should be made at both Assessment Points and at least one location in between. • certain River Prospects provide very dramatic and much loved views of the Palace of Westminster, whose delicate skyline features could be harmed by intrusive background development. In such cases a Protected Silhouette definition has been applied that makes it clear that any development that would change the current skyline profile of the Palace would qualitatively have a negative impact on the view. The London Plan directs us to refuse such development. Therefore, we’ve made it clear in a limited number of instances. This applies from any point at or between a set of linked Assessment Points, on the Embankments and Bridges closest to it. • a small number of additional Assessment Points have been added to allow the linked Assessment Point and Protected Silhouette concepts to work consistently • a few Assessment Points have been relocated to better reflect their function · all River Prospect views have been given focussed Visual Management Guidance
For the 4 Townscape views, changes included in the Draft SPG include: • the definition of an additional Protected Vista, from the Serpentine Bridge toward Westminster Abbey and the Palace of Westminster. This PV provides clarity on our expectations for the background of this view. This is particularly important to give direction in relation to new development at Elephant & Castle. • the designation of a Protected Silhouette for the White Tower in the views from City Hall toward the Tower of London World Heritage Site and adjustments to the location and number of Assessment Points to support linked assessment. • the designation of a Protected Silhouette for the Royal Naval College in the views from Island Gardens toward the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site and adjustments to the location and number of Assessment Points to support linked assessment • all townscape views including St James Park have been given focussed Visual Management Guidance
Efforts have been made to reduce the size of the document while improving its clarity and ease of use. Key changes include: • introductory chapters are shorter and clearer. They include a description of the assessment process, a definition of the view management techniques used in the SPG and sets of Visual Management Guidance that apply to all views and to views in each of the 4 groups • terminology has been tightened and checked for consistency. A revised glossary is provided. • management plans have been restructured and aim to convey more information graphically. All text has been rewritten to reflect the new conventions, convey more explicit advice and rely less on reference to the earlier principles • all maps have been redesigned to be more useful both in the office and the field • protected vista definitions have been moved to an Appendix and include a broader set of co-ordinated graphics
The document is now out for public consultation. It can be downloaded from the GLA website and is also available as a printed copy from the GLA (ISBN 9781847812636). Please provide your opinions and comments to the Mayor at the GLA by 4th September, 2009.
Richard Coleman
