Drones are incredibly useful tools for surveying old buildings such as heritage sites, churches and cathedrals due to their ability to access hard-to-reach areas and capture detailed imagery.
We recently had the pleasure of flying one of our drones inside the Church of Our Lady and the English Martyrs (OLEM) in Cambridge. They are currently undergoing a fundraiser to secure investment for a considerable amount of structural repairs needed to the outside of the church.
Our Lead Drone Pilot, Marc commented: “I captured drone footage for them which they plan to use in a documentary about the church to raise awareness and funds. I also carried out an external drone survey for their main surveyor so that they could assess the structure and identify any repairs that needed to be carried out.”
“Marc has completed our drone footage for OLEM Church. His quality of work is excellent and we were very pleased with how quickly he was able to proceed with the filming and editing.” Annelize Coetzer General Manager, OLEM Church
Take a look at the stunning footage our lead Drone Pilot captured: https://youtu.be/a5Nz-FihLhE?si=vEEqfPe1Jr0rDabW
Creative output aside, drones provide the following benefits for those involved with the maintenance of heritage buildings:
- Aerial Inspection: Drones are equipped with high-resolution cameras which capture aerial images of the entire building (internal and external), providing a comprehensive view of its structure and surroundings. This can help to identify any structural issues, damage, or deterioration.
- Close-Up Inspection: Drones can safely fly close to the building facade, capturing detailed images of specific areas that are difficult to access or unsafe for people to inspect directly. This allows for a thorough examination of architectural features, materials, and potential areas of concern.
- Safety and quick setup: Drones are easy and cost-efficient to set up while avoiding the need for building inspectors to hire bulky scaffolding, ladders, and cherry-pickers which reduces the likelihood of accidents and injuries during the inspection process.
"Churches, by their very nature, are aging structures so it’s important that a proactive approach to maintenance is adopted. Identifying potential issues as early as possible can save time and money. It is not practical and often not possible to fully establish the condition of the structure from the ground, therefore an assessment is best carried out above the ground. The problem with this type of elevated survey is that they traditionally require either expensive scaffolding or motorised access, such as a cherry picker. "
Marc continues: “When you factor in the cost, logistics, time constraints and safety considerations these types of manual surveys attract; a drone survey is the obvious modern approach to gathering the required data for making informed decisions about church renovation or repair.”
