David Watson is a chartered landscape architect with over 30 years experience in landscape and visual impact assessment. Operating throughout the UK, he has been involved in many major development proposals including power stations, reservoirs, container ports, windfarms, residential schemes and industrial, commercial and retail sites.

Landcape Institute: Digital Integration and Transformation, 28th January 2020

Zone of Theoretical Visibility presentation (pdf 6.0MB)

ZVI Analysis

David's particular specialism is in the production of high-accuracy technical material to aid in the design and decision-making process during the planning phase of development proposals. Such material is commonly included with documentation for planning applications, planning appeals and as evidence at public inquiries, usually as part of an environmental impact assessment. The type of material produced will vary depending upon the requirements of any particular project but may include panoramic photography from surveyed viewpoints, verified photomontages and ZTV/ZVI analyses. The creation of such material is specialised and often controversial but David's experience has enabled him to develop a robust working method that is trusted by his clients.

David has worked with many of the UK's largest landscape practices, providing specialist input and drawing upon his varied experience in the field of landscape and visual impact assessment. He has also worked with many small practices and directly with local authorities, preparing objective analysis data both in support of and against proposed developments. See the VIA Experience page for details of projects and clients.

Verified Photomontage

David can provide a complete verified photomontage and ZTV/ZVI analysis service including data acquisition, site survey and field photography through to the production of ZTV/ZVI mapping, wirelines, massing-studies and full-rendered photomontages. Results can be delivered as print-ready artwork using drawing templates and logos provided by clients.

In addition to his freelance work, David is also a senior lecturer at the University of Greenwich where he is responsible for the development and delivery of digital design teaching on the Landscape Architecture BA, MA and Diploma programmes. He also teaches landscape and visual impact assessment techniques at post-graduate level and his teaching/learning materials can be found at coursestuff.co.uk. David's teaching has been influenced by his interest in eLearning techniques and he has experimented with the use of blogs and community forums as teaching/learning tools. He finds the symbiotic relationship between his teaching and professional work to be productive and inspiring.

David's interests and activities also extend to other areas of digital design. He is currently programme leader of the MA Web Design & Content Planning programme at the University of Greenwich. He has designed a number of websites including this one and the very successful CADTutor.net AutoCAD resource site. Recent web design projects include a new website for Emily Myers. David is an advocate of accessibility and W3C standards compliance in web design and his focus is on the creation of websites that are usable, findable and visually appealing.