Wednesday, 12 February 2014

DRONE AERIAL SURVEYS ON LARGE HERITAGE BUILDINGS

Drone Aerial Survey on Large Heritage Buildings

We have carried out drone aerial surveys and inspections on the roof and building  facades on large heritage buildings.  The logistical problems facing the client were huge. Firstly, they couldn’t find a cheery picker large enough to reach across the roof to access all the hidden roof valleys and chimneys. They then tried to source a large crane which had the dimensions to reach the areas but it meant placing piling mats on the pristine grass lawns and the chance of damage to the listed walls and statues was raised considerably.

The other problem with using large cranes is the massive weight and the subsequent loads it places on the local ground strata. This can easy damage buried services and culverts.  
The client confirmed that the large plant supplier had informed him it would take 1 week to survey the windows and building façade and 1 week for the roof – an overall time frame of 2 weeks. The other downside to using a large crane was the visual downside of a large unsightly unit, right outside the guest windows.


The cost for undertaking the crane survey was escalating fast with 2 weeks of crane hire, plus 3 men and the secondary piling mats plus the requirement of a stone surveyor to go up in the crane basket to inspect the façade of the building. 

One week later the client approached APT Aerial Surveys see if it was possible to undertake an aerial survey using one of our drones. We subsequently undertook the drone aerial survey whilst the live video feed was sent to the surveyor who directed us to the suspect areas on the building facade. A full photographic survey with highly detailed images was undertaken of the existing building façade and hidden roof valleys which the client used to target the problem areas.

The entire drone aerial survey took two days - one day for the façade survey and one day for the roof survey, in comparison to two weeks!  The other plus point was the massive savings; the drone aerial survey cost 15-20% of the original projected costs. Also just as important there wasn’t any damage or inconvenience caused to the hotel and its guests.

If you are requiring drone aerial surveys or inspections on your building/s please contact us at info@aptsoundtesting.co.uk

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