Recently Global Drone Surveys was contacted by a regular client, a development company based in Birmingham. They had recently acquired several derelict buildings in the city, with two carrying grade II listed status. The buildings were formed around a corner section with courtyard areas in the centre.
It soon became apparent that the level of dis-repair was higher than initially anticipated and as such, Health & Safety declared the building unsafe to enter. This placed the developers in an awkward position. They wanted to get on with the restoration of the buildings, but could not go in to see what needed to be restored. The use of a cherry picker was ruled out as it only provided a very limited vantage point due to the height of some parts of the buildings and scaffolding would take time to erect due to acquiring the correct planning/ permits.
This left the developers in no doubt that the “only viable option” was to deploy a drone over the site and called us to assist.
Deploying a team of 2 operators flying an inspire 1 airframe and Z3 zoom camera, we were able to provide an extensive insight into the current condition of the roof areas, rear supporting wall sections, and accurate detail of the courtyard areas that had not been accessed in years. We also identified an entire rear lower roof that was unseen from the perimeter of the site, and had totally collapsed.
Our inspection provided our client with ample imagery to allow restoration plans to be agreed with Birmingham Council, and will be used in work tender frameworks in the coming months.
Another great example of how we save our clients time and money.