Context

North Tyneside Council’s housing team is committed to expanding the provision of social and affordable homes across the borough, mostly through their portfolio of smaller or in-fill sites. As part of this initiative, a derelict site near Swindale Drive was identified for redevelopment. At the time of the consultation, the site was vacant and occasionally used as overflow parking for families dropping off children at a nearby school. It was also a common pedestrian through route, where it was important to retain existing connectivity.

At the time, North Tyneside housing team had a strong in-house design capability, allowing them to generate proposals internally. For this site, they adapted a range of house type models, which were available in BIM format.

The PlaceChangers Consultation tool enabled the team to set up and run an interactive consultation using those house types and several 3D props on a 3D proposal map, adding a valuable visual dimension to the consultation, which easily explained how the site would operate to participants in the public consultation.

The PlaceChangers team supported a number of adaptations in order to use 3D models in a performant manner in the online consultation through standard web browsers. This included:

• Geo-referencing and placement support for 3D models in .IFC BIM format.
• Flexible viewing options, allowing participants to switch between 2D and 3D views.
• 3D model screenshots to enhance the consultation, given the absence of photorealistic renders.

Screenshot of the interactive proposal map with building models and trees on PlaceChangers

North Tyneside Council sent an information mail-out to 140 nearby residents, inviting them to the public consultation. Given the small scale of the site, this was seen as sufficient.

Outcomes

Through the consultation leaflets to 140 nearby households, the consultation received 58 views and responses from 9 respondents, making a response rate of 15.6%. The project team noted a higher level of supportive and constructive feedback from participants—something consistently seen with PlaceChangers' interactive, map-based platform.

Key takeaways included:

• Positive community response to the development plans.
• Improved design considerations based on resident feedback. For example, concerns about school parking led to design adjustments and further discussions with the school to accommodate drop-off spaces.
• Preservation of green spaces, with many existing trees and walking routes retained in the final designs.

The design team commended the effectiveness of the 3D model, noting that the “paper-like” model communicated that the designs were still evolving. At this early design stage, this 3D model struck the right balance between simplicity and detail, making it easy to understand massing, space, and movement within the development.