City Centre Commercial Survey, Queen Street

A chartered surveying practice commissioned a high resolution aerial condition survey of the roof and building envelope of a commercial building on Queen Street.

Their brief set out six targets: the roof coverings and any slippage or defects, the parapets with their copings, flashings and pointing, the box gutters, the lantern light, the roof mounted air conditioning plant, and the chimney stacks.

Queen Street, in the centre of Exeter.

City centre work brings two problems a suburban roof does not. The airspace is restricted, and the street below fills with people. Both were dealt with before the aircraft left the ground.

Restricted airspace approvals were obtained for the location and dated to a specific window, and the flight was booked for six in the morning, ahead of the street getting busy.

This mission is on the log for the approvals rather than the findings. Getting legal permission to fly a restricted city centre location, and scheduling the flight so there is nobody underneath it, is most of the work on a job like this.

If your building sits somewhere a drone cannot simply be launched, ask us before you assume it cannot be surveyed from the air. Sorting the approvals is part of the job, not an extra.