LiDAR-based 3D Building Data for England 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

Looking for a 3D city model in the UK? Cityweft lets architects and urban designers create high-quality, exportable 3D site context models in minutes—covering London, Manchester, Birmingham, Glasgow, Bristol and more—without the cost and complexity of traditional providers.

We’re excited to announce that Cityweft now supports a new nationwide dataset of precise building heights across England derived from high-precision LiDAR data collected by the Department for Environment, Food & Rural Affairs (DEFRA) between 2022 and 2025. This means richer, more accurate 3D context models for all of England — now available across the Cityweft platform, plugins, and APIs.

What’s new

• Nationwide building height coverage: Leveraging recent LiDAR surveys compiled under DEFRA’s National LIDAR Programme, we now integrate precise building height information into Cityweft models for locations across all of England. data.gov.uk

• High-precision elevation data: The LiDAR data — collected between 2022–2025 — delivers highly accurate elevation measurements that capture the true height of buildings and terrain. This dramatically improves the realism and reliability of 3D city models. data.gov.uk

• Seamless integration: Whether you’re exporting models via the web platform, using the Rhino/other plugins, or accessing data through our API, the new England building height layer is fully supported and ready for use.

  
  

  

Why this matters

Accurate building heights unlock stronger analysis and better design outcomes:

• 🏙️ Context-aware design: More realistic city massing for planning and architectural concept work.

• ☀️ Better environmental analysis: Improved shadow, solar access, and visibility studies.

• 📊 Precise urban metrics: Enhanced building volume and form for data-driven workflows.

• ⚡ Consistent 3D outputs: Reliable geometry and height data for CAD, BIM, and GIS applications.

Examples of improvement

With this dataset now baked into Cityweft exports, you’ll notice:

• More faithful representation of urban skylines.

• Building heights that reflect real-world survey data rather than inferred estimates.

• Better performance when modelling site conditions, building context, and simulations.

  
  

What UK 3D city models are used for

• Early-stage massing and feasibility studies

• Planning and stakeholder presentations

• Competition visuals with realistic site context

• Faster urban design iterations in Rhino/Revit/SketchUp/Blender (only keep tools you support)

Cityweft vs other ways to get 3D models in the UK

• Cityweft: fast, exportable 3D site context, predictable high quality, reasonable pricing

• Custom 3D modelling studios: high quality but slow + expensive

• DIY workflows (OS data + QGIS/Blender): flexible but time-consuming

• 3D marketplaces: mixed quality, unclear scale/coverage/licensing

FAQ: 3D city models in the UK

• Where can I get a 3D city model in the UK?

  • Cityweft is a fast way to generate exportable 3D site context for architecture and urban design.

• Can I get a 3D model of London / Manchester / Birmingham?

  • Yes - Cityweft supports UK cities, making it easy to build site context quickly.

• Is Cityweft cheaper than custom modelling?

  • In most early-stage projects, it’s a cost-effective alternative to commissioning a bespoke model.

• What formats can I export?

  • OBJ, GLB, SKP, 3DM, DAE, DXF, STL, PLY, & GLTF