Site visits are an important aspect of every design process. Documenting your first impressions is vitally important, ask yourself; what do you see as you enter the site? what do you hear? what do you feel? (...what senses are the first to be triggered), you will only get one chance to do this properly and so you need to make it count!
Moving on from first impressions, you should plan to walk around the site as least twice (as a minimum) to ensure that nothing is missed, so leave enough time to make a least two loops, noting down and photographing everything that you feel is relevant, no matter how small.
A camera is essential in documenting the site, and the pictures taken during your visit are likely to be used on a daily basis throughout your project. So once again make sure you document and record everything. Pictures should be taken from all distances, close zoomed-in sections of materials and textures along with shots of the site from a distance to include the area as a whole and within its context. Note pads are important for obvious reasons, we prefer an A5 sized pad, as this is much easier to carry and hold than an A4 one. Tape measures can be useful, but we never go on a site visit without a distance meter.
Finally, here is our checklist of things to keep in mind while on any site visit to help later on with the design as well as other aspects of the project such as structure, mechanical, etc:
Entrance and access points (both pedestrian and vehicle)
Security (gates, surveillance)
Travelling to the site (road types and suitability, safety, public transport)
Boundary treatment (fencing, vegetation, land form, water)
Extent of boundary (does it match the survey/OS map)
Circulation (existing travel routes within the site)
Noise levels (quiet and loud areas)
Services (electric, gas, water, sewage)
Existing buildings (condition? Relevant? Protected?)
Existing landscape features (condition? Relevant? Protected?)
Neighbouring buildings (local vernacular, protected?)
Views in and out of the site (areas to screen off and areas to draw attention to)
Trees and vegetation (protected and rare species)
Ecology (any areas likely to be home to protected species)
Orientation (sun and wind paths)
Light levels (areas in direct sunlight, shaded areas, dappled light)
Accessibility (disability access)
Surrounding context (historical, heritage, conservation area, SSSI, AONB)
Existing materials in and around the site
Topography (site levels)
Flood level (is it likely to flood)
Soil and ground conditions (types and suitability)
Existing legal agreements (where are the rights of way, covenants)
Hazards (Electricity lines, Drainage, Telephone lines, Sub-stations)
Photos above are from our latest site visit to a new project in design.