Church drone survey: saving money, time, and lives
When you’re headquartered in a naval city on the south coast of England, you find yourself working in all kinds of historic buildings. And, as with all drone surveys we conduct in aging properties, our inspection of the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows in the New Forest saved the church money, time, and maybe even a life.
After hearing of light fittings collapsing in another church elsewhere in the UK, the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows called upon our aerial surveying expertise to check the state of theirs.
We found that, though there were no immediate risks, replacing some of the oldest fixtures would prevent premature failures arising within the next decade.
Saving time
For years, property inspections have been a bit of a ‘sort it out tomorrow’ task, because they can seem quite disruptive and time-consuming. Drone surveys have changed the game. Our flights at the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows were complete within an hour. We also regularly write and send survey reports the same day.
Saving money
As there’s no need for bespoke scaffolding builds, drone surveys are also far more cost effective than traditional inspections.
Plus, addressing simple mends before they become serious problems minimises the potential costs of increasingly complex repairs.
In the case of the light fittings, if they were to fall, there might be additional damages to the church’s furnishings. Twice or thrice the price, and then some.
Mike flying indoors at another church: St. Mary’s Church in Portsmouth
Saving lives
Buildings that are falling into disrepair can be harmful to people, too, and traditional inspection methods — like scaffolding and ladders — pose a bigger human threat than drone surveys.
For premises like the Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, where the ceilings are particularly tall, aerial inspections are the best solution. Quick, effective, safe — and a fun anecdote for Sunday service!
The tool for the job
We used a DJI Spark for the church survey. It’s small, lightweight, and nimble, but features most of the essential bells and whistles of our top-of-the-line powerhouses.
It’s not quite as small as many of our FPV ‘whoop’ drones, but it can fit into some impressively tight crevices, carrying a torch with it to illuminate every photo.
For any nooks the Spark couldn’t sneak into, we used our trusty backup gear: an Insta360 mounted on a telescopic pole.
Get your surveys sorted
Decades of property surveying expertise, aerial and ground photography experience, and knowledge of building insurance claims make Solent Sky Services the go-to CAA-approved drone company for UAV building surveys, roof inspections, and 2D or 3D site mapping.
Contact us today, and we’ll have a quote, a date, and a plan secured for you within a week.
One of our mid-sized outdoor drone surveys — each blue dot offers the client millimetres-accurate close-up inspection photography, survey notes, and, for multi-date inspections, historic data.