Gill Oliver meets a man who says he could have prevented the Castle Mill flats row

Oxford has a long history of Town-versus-Gown clashes but the most recent could have been avoided, according to Nigel Blanchard.

According to the developer and entrepreneur, the ongoing row over Oxford University’s £24m Castle Mill flats development, which has been criticised by some for spoiling views of the dreaming spires from Port Meadow, might never have happened if the parties involved had been using the right technology.

Mr Blanchard’s firm EIFLA provides architects, planners, designers and agents with computer-generated 3D images which are almost as convincing as photographs.

It also deals in super-realistic 3D animation which conveys before-and-after scenarios at the touch of a button, including highly realistic previews of the way a building will look in the context of an existing setting.

Mr Blanchard, whose business is based at the Oxford Science Park, said: “I could have sorted out the Port Meadow problem by doing shots at different angles, 3D images and fly-through animation before it was built.

“With all these new developments going on throughout Oxford, no one knows how it’s really going to look until it’s too late whereas I could have showed everyone exactly how those five storeys fit in with neighbouring features.”

The technology available now is far superior to old-style CGI, which did not really look much like genuine photographs.

They were “horrible, cheap images” Mr Blanchard said but clients – who include developers, architects, planning consultants, interior designers and estate agents – are impressed by what is now available.

All they have to do is supply EIFLA with computer-assisted design drawings, interior and exterior specs and the team will turn them into 3D realistic images and animation.

And clients can specify down to the tiniest detail.

Mr Blanchard explained: “We spend time on drilling down, so if someone says: ‘I want a blue Chesterfield sofa in the sitting room’, or a certain brand of appliances in the kitchen, we can do that.

“They may specify exactly what type of taps in the bathroom, exactly what coffee brand and shaped coffee jar, or that all book titles need to be about psychotherapy.”

Animation, including what are known as sliders where the image can be slid back to reveal an alternative, and fly-throughs, offering a three-dimensional walk-through a property, are particularly popular.

Mr Blanchard explained: “YouTube is the biggest search engine now, so websites of house developers and estate agents have to have video content such as animation and video clips.”

With clients as far afield as Australia, there is a large and growing market for this type of service.

He added: “All house builders want photo-realistic images which help them sell their houses.

“Developers love this technology because when they are applying for planning permission, they can use these animated visuals to show planners how the building looks as you add each floor.”

In Oxfordshire, he has just done a before-and-after animation for estate agent Breckon & Breckon.

He used a slider to show prospective buyers the way a house would look once it had new rendering.

And he has just finished working for a small developer in Headington who believes that showing planners highly realistic three-dimensional images of how the scheme will look when built will help secure a favourable decision.

Another reason why EIFLA is able to beat London-based agencies with access to similar technology is price.

While London agencies typically bill £3,000-4,000 for one image, EIFLA charges £900.

The reason his prices are a quarter of anyone else’s is that his team of 18 artists are based in Vietnam – but he is unrepentant at the suggestion he is exploiting cheap labour.

He said: “I lived over there for years so that is part of my life and experience.

“If I was trying to run a studio of artists like that in this country, it would be too expensive because you wouldn’t get artists on minimum wage in this country, I would have to pay them £25-30k a year each.”

Mr Blanchard will be quitting his Littlemore office at the end of August to move into a new office in the garden of his home in Southmoor.

His new premises will be a space-age style pod, invented by York-based architect Chris Sneesby’s firm Archipod and which has been featured on the Channel 4 TV series Grand Designs.