Architectural renders

A render is a picture of a building that has not been built yet. Developers often show their plans in brochures with drawings, photographs and artist's impressions, the Landscape Institute notes. Its guidance calls these pictures visualisations.

Pictures for selling, pictures for planning

The Landscape Institute's Technical Guidance Note 06/19 separates two kinds. Illustrative visualisations may be used for marketing, or to support a planning application, by showing the essence of what a proposal would look like. They need not be drawn from a particular viewpoint. A colour perspective or an artist's impression from a bird's eye view are both examples it gives.

Technical visualisations are the other kind. They form part of the landscape and visual assessments that typically go with planning applications. The note says it is critical that these are "accurate, objective and unbiased".

The four types in planning work

The note sets out four types of technical visualisation.

• Type 1, annotated viewpoint photograph. A photograph that shows where the site sits in the view, with key features marked.
• Type 2, 3D wireline or model. Computer generated, usually without a photograph behind it, and suited to describing the development itself.
• Type 3, photomontage or photowire. The kind commonly produced for planning applications. It gives a reasonable level of accuracy in place and photography, and does not need verification data.
• Type 4, photomontage or photowire that can be checked for scale. It uses equipment and processes that give verification data, so others can check its accuracy. The note links it to the industry's "AVRs" or "Verified Views".

Type 3 will be acceptable in many situations, the note says. Only Type 4 gives the verifiable accuracy suited to the most sensitive places and purposes. The note's cover marks it as under review, dated January 2024.

Agreeing the approach early

The note asks the people producing visualisations to think about who will use them and why. For development that does not need an environmental impact assessment, it encourages developers to ask the planning authority for pre-application advice. Where views are likely to be a key issue, sharing the proposed viewpoints at that stage helps reach agreement. It says this should reduce the risk of requests for more information later.

Renders in adverts

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) says advertisers may use images to give an idea of how a development might look. They should be careful not to mislead the public about the real development. Its examples of a likely problem are an artist's impression that makes a scheme look much smaller than it is, and a play area that won't be in the final plans.

Where some plans may change and an advertiser can't guarantee every element will be built, the ASA says they should be upfront about it.

Who owns the pictures

The Intellectual Property Office (IPO) says copyright in a commissioned work first belongs to the person or organisation that created it. A written agreement between the two sides can change that.

Where the contract says nothing about copyright, the IPO adds, courts may find an implied licence. That would let the person who commissioned the work use it for the purpose it was commissioned for.

Render on a wall

For render as a wall finish, TrustMark, the quality scheme the government endorses for work in and around people's homes, has a search for tradespeople.

Useful links

• Technical Guidance Note 06/19: Visual Representation of Development Proposals (Landscape Institute, PDF)
• Proposals that cause a stir (ASA and CAP)
• Ownership of copyright works (Intellectual Property Office, GOV.UK)
• TrustMark