Overview
Terrain Surveys were appointed by Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation to undertake a series of detailed Measured Building Surveys to support upcoming refurbishment and estate management plans.
The Foundation is the custodian of the world’s first Garden City, founded on Ebenezer Howard’s principles of thoughtful urban planning, green space, and community wellbeing. As a self-funding charitable trust, it manages more than 5,500 acres of land, along with a diverse property portfolio that includes commercial assets, residential estates, heritage buildings, and community facilities. Income generated is reinvested back into the town to support cultural venues, green spaces, wellbeing initiatives and long-term stewardship.
Accurate, reliable survey data is essential to help the Foundation maintain and improve its properties while preserving the architectural character that makes Letchworth unique.
Survey
The 7 comprehensive measured building surveys included:
- Full internal floor plans across all levels
- External building elevations and sections
- Detailed architectural features using high-precision laser scanning
- Roof details and building footprint mapping
- Registered point cloud to support future modelling and design
- High-resolution imagery for reference
Our team used a combination of 3D laser scanning and total station control to capture the buildings safely, efficiently and with minimal disruption.
Close communication with the Foundation’s property team ensured access was coordinated smoothly, enabling our surveyors to work across all sites over the course of just 3 days.
Results
The Foundation received a complete, accurate and fully coordinated dataset, including 2D CAD drawings, registered point clouds and supplementary imagery, giving them an authoritative record of the building’s current condition.
The results enable the Heritage Foundation to:
- Progress confidently with refurbishment and improvement work
- Ensure heritage features are understood, protected and integrated into design proposals
- Reduce design risk by providing consultants with precise, consistent survey information
- Support long-term planning and asset management across their wider estate
This survey now forms a vital technical foundation for upcoming works and contributes to the ongoing preservation and future development of the world’s first Garden City.
