Our Client
This project took us to an industrial site in Sydney. The Client Engaged Aivia Group to assist with a roof inspection of the factory and Aivia Group coordinated with a local roof inspector ProjectXSolutions.
The Challenge
The factory was built in the 1950s and the condition of the roof was unknown. The roof lacked safety anchor points due to its age and the company would not allow anyone to physically get onto the roof to inspect it or install safety anchors until a qualitied engineer had inspected it and signed it off for access. The biggest operational risk for the client was that a lot of critical equipment is located on the roof and if it were to fail, no one would be authorized to get on the roof to fix it. There would potentially be hundreds of thousands of dollars lost per day. Aivia Groups ability to provide aerial mapping and inspection services was able to address this operational gridlock.
A key consideration with this site is that it was within 2km from Richmond RAAF Base in NSW and it was also within restricted airspace0 (R470). This means Aivia Group had to coordinate both with CASA for clearance to operate within 5.5km of a controlled aerodrome and with the RAAF base air traffic Control (ATC) for clearance to fly within the restricted airspace. Our Remote Operators Certificate (ReOC), insurances and extensive experience with these matters allowed us to successfully organise and conduct all commercial flight operations under these conditions without any hassle to the client.
Our Solution
Aivia Group used our expertise and equipment to capture high-quality aerial and terrestrial imagery and video. We then processed this raw data into various geospatial products. Both the raw imagery as well as the processed deliverables were distributed to the roof inspector that we collaborated with for this project to submit an inspection report to the client. If you would like more information about what each of these digital deliverables entail, then read our visual guide to geospatial and related data. The deliverables included:
- Aerial Imagery
- Aerial Video
- Aerial Panoramas
- Terrestrial Imagery
- Terrestrial Video
- Terrestrial Panoramas
- Video Editing
- Ground Control and Checkpoints
- Orthoimagery
- Point Cloud
- Reality Mesh
- Digital Surface Model (Raster and Vector)
- Digital Terrain Model (Raster and Vector)
- Contour Model
These products provided the client with a comprehensive and true to life representation of the site and its surroundings, which can be used for various purposes, such as:
- Assessing the roofs condition: The roof inspector can now confidently produce an inspection report to sign off on the roofs suitability to be physically accessed.
- Planning and monitoring site maintenance activities and progress: The client can use the data to plan and coordinate site maintenance tasks and monitor the quality and safety of the work. The data will now act as a historical record where the client can compare future works across the site to previous conditions for evaluating expected and actual outcomes, and identify any issues or deviations that need to be addressed.
- Communicating and collaborating with stakeholders and contractors: The client can use the data to share and exchange information with future project stakeholders and contractors, such as the roofers who will be engaged to install anchor points, engineers, equipment suppliers etc. Potential suppliers can now be provided a digital replica of the site to assist with their quotations and reduce the need for onsite briefings.
Outcome and Impact
By using drones for aerial mapping, roof inspection and reality modelling, Aivia Group was able to offer the client several benefits, such as:
- The massive operational risk of potentially not being able to access to the roof to fix critical equipment has been eliminated now that physical access to the roof to install safety anchors has been approved by the inspeciton report.
- Increasing safety by avoiding hazardous areas and minimizing human exposure: Aivia Group was able to map areas that were difficult or dangerous to access by, such as at heights on old roofs at around heavy equipment etc. This reduced the risk of accidents and injuries for the staff and contractors.
- Improving flexibility and quality of project management. The level of detail of site data that was captured has enabled for more project management activities to be completed remotely or from the onsite office. and with more context to choose the right course of aciton
Assortment of Project Images
