Collaborative climate modelling uncovers details of city living

In anticipation of development planned for the historic City of London, the city council in recent years commissioned a 3-dimensional virtual model of the area to help city planners understand the affect new structures might have there. One of the model’s early uses was to ensure sight lines to St. Paul’s Cathedral and other historic structures would be preserved, which has for years been the guiding principle for building construction in the City of London.

RWDI was retained to help the council and city planners extend the virtual model’s usefulness. The application of sophisticated modelling and analysis techniques is enabling city planners to consider far more than just sight lines as they lay out the future of the City.

Also known as the Square Mile, the City of London on the north bank of the Thames River has been a leading global financial centre for more than a thousand years. To accommodate the need for more office space in this geographically limited area, city planners in the 1980s set aside an area known as the Eastern Cluster for the development of tall towers. Since then, the Eastern Cluster has become home to a number of skyscrapers.