Telford's favourite buildings to be captured in 3D

Telford & Wrekin Council has launched the 50 Buildings project as part of the town's 50th birthday celebrations.

The project will use digital scanning techniques to create virtual tours of 50 of the most-loved buildings within the borough as an online resource for residents, schools, visitors and community organisations.

Residents and organisations are being asked to make suggestions of buildings which they feel are iconic in the borough or have a special relevance to their communities.

The survey to make these suggestions will be open until July 3 and is available at www.telford50.co.uk/50Buildings

The buildings will then be modelled and presented to the public in a digital format through 2018, allowing them to view in 3D the internal form of some of Telford’s favourite buildings.

It will be a unique experience as they will be able to explore and visit a wide variety of buildings virtually.

Images, website links, text and videos can be placed within the 3D model to give more information about a building or how a building was used in the past.

The council will liaise with history and community groups to accurately record, display and promote the history of the buildings.

Telford & Wrekin Council’s leader, Councillor Shaun Davies said: “The buildings will be captured and developed into 3D models using the latest digital techniques.

“Ultimately all generations will be inspired to visualise buildings in this digital way to learn the history and context of the town they live in and to research and view Telford’s rich history of buildings.

“This will be a lasting digital record of Telford that has been uniquely captured in its 50th year, to be viewed and celebrated by many for years to come.”

The 3D models produced can be viewed via the Telford @50 website.

Examples of virtual tours of buildings such as Southwater One, the Bedlam Furnaces and Madeley’s Anstice Memorial Hall can be viewed at www.telford50.co.uk/50Buildings

Models can also be viewed in virtual reality using a device like google cardboard or Samsung Gear VR.