Guides · Industrial CGI
The complete guide to industrial CGI.
CGI for industrial and logistics schemes does two very different jobs: it helps win planning consent, and it helps let the space. This guide covers what makes industrial visualisation distinct, how the two jobs differ, and what to have ready when you brief it – from the studio that’s worked in this sector since 1998.
What it is
A big-box shed is a harder subject than it looks.
Industrial and logistics buildings look simple – large, repetitive volumes. But the visualisation challenge is real: the schemes are big and prominent, often on the edge of settlements, and the imagery has to work for a demanding audience of planners, funders and occupiers. Get it right and the same 3D model can serve a planning submission and a letting campaign at once.
Industrial is the sector Blink knows best. It’s where we started in 1998, and it’s shaped how we approach every job: get the scale and the context honest, and make the space easy to imagine occupied.
Two jobs
Get it consented. Then get it let.
01
Winning consent
Logistics sites are often large, prominent and on the edge of settlements – exactly where accuracy matters most. Here you may need verified views: survey-backed images that demonstrate the scheme’s impact honestly, so the case stands up with officers and committee rather than inviting challenge. What a verified view is →
02
Letting the space
Pre-lets move fast and funders need confidence. Here you need marketing CGI: spec-accurate, occupier- and investor-ready imagery, turned around to agency deadlines so the scheme can go to market while the opportunity is live. Our marketing work →
What’s different
Why industrial isn’t like other CGI.
Scale and prominence
These are some of the largest buildings in the landscape. Showing their true bulk honestly – not flattering it away – is what makes planning imagery credible.
Different audiences want to see different things. Where a local dog walker might want to see as little as possible from their favourite route, a potential tenant will want to see just how massive their potential new building is from an elevated position.
Context is half the picture
Access roads, yards, HGV circulation, connectivity and the surrounding landscape often matter than the shed itself.
Curating and capturing exceptional photography – from eye level, from a drone or from a plane – is critical to successful imagery.
Occupier-ready specifics
Eaves height, dock doors, yard depth, unit splits. Marketing imagery that gets the spec right does real work in front of occupiers and their agents.
Our job is to make these big brutes of buildings look beautiful. It is also to make them look fit for today’s modern, high tech businesses.
Speed to market
Pre-lets don’t wait. The ability to turn spec-accurate imagery around quickly, from an in-house team, is often the difference between catching a requirement and missing it.
Briefing it well
What to have ready.
Planning, marketing or both
Tell us the purpose up front. It decides whether you need verified views, marketing CGI, or a set that does both from one model.
The drawings and the spec
Site plan, unit layouts, elevations and key dimensions. For marketing, the letting spec; for planning, the survey and viewpoints.
Phasing and unit splits
Multi-phase parks and flexible unit configurations affect what you show. If it can be let as one or several, we should know early.
The deadline that matters
A submission date or a launch date. We build the schedule around your milestone, not our queue – so tell us the real one.
The essentials
- Industrial CGI does two jobs – winning consent, and letting the space – and they need different imagery.
- Consent needs verified views; letting needs spec-accurate, fast-turnaround marketing CGI.
- Scale, prominence and context make these schemes harder to visualise honestly than they look.
- One 3D model can serve both jobs – build once, get planning and marketing deliverables from it.
- Brief early with the purpose, the drawings and spec, the phasing, and the real deadline.
Common questions
Industrial CGI, answered.
Can one set of images work for both planning and marketing?
Often, yes. The 3D model is the same, so it can produce verified views for the application and polished marketing imagery for letting. They’re different outputs with different requirements, but building them from one model is usually the efficient route. Tell us both purposes at the start and we’ll plan for it.
How quickly can you turn around marketing CGI for a pre-let?
Faster than most, because everything is in-house and we know the sector. Exact timings depend on how many views and how much design information exists, but we build the schedule around your letting deadline. Tell us the date you need and we’ll be honest about what’s achievable.
Do you produce verified views for logistics planning applications?
Yes – it’s core to what we do. We produce accurate AVRs with survey data, located photography and a documented methodology, suitable for committee and public inquiry. That accuracy matters most on the large, prominent sites logistics schemes often occupy.
Can you show a whole logistics portfolio in one place?
Yes. Interact3D puts your entire portfolio on one interactive UK map, with each scheme opening into detail and live unit availability – and your own team can keep it up to date. See how Interact3D works →
Keep reading
Related.
Industrial & logistics
The sector in full – what we produce, and why developers trust us here.
The sector →What is a verified view?
The planning half of the job, explained – accuracy, methodology and when you need it.
Read the guide →What does CGI cost?
The factors that move the price, and how to brief for a fair quote.
CGI costs explained →Work with us
Have an industrial or logistics scheme?
Planning, marketing, or both – tell us what you’re working on and we’ll show you what’s possible. It’s the sector we know best.