Bonningtons’ Microdrone MD4-200 unmanned helicopter inspection service
Dean Clough mixed-used complex, Halifax, West Yorkshire
Jeremy Hall, chairman and managing director, Dean Clough Dean Clough is a landmark redevelopment of 15 listed mill buildings spread over a 20 ha site that was once home to the largest carpet manufacturer in the world. Since 1983 the buildings, some of which are up to 63 metres tall, have been gradually converted into a variety of uses.
Regular visual checks on the mill roofs are required to identify any problems, such as damaged pipes, gutters, or slates. Previously we made observations from a raised hydraulic platform, which was moved around the perimeter of the building, but we switched to the helicopter to save time and money.
Bonningtons is based in Yorkshire and run by Andrew Bonnington, a chartered building surveyor who has been involved at Dean Clough for around 20 years. Every six months he visits the site with the drone, which he operates using remote control. A high resolution camera is fitted to the drone, which beams images to a laptop on the ground.
The drone surveys the whole length of the mill roof and if a tenant has identified a problem at a particular location it can target that. The camera takes numerous images of the roofs, which are later examined by Bonningtons, which then sends a report identifying any defects, which we can pass on to a contractor to complete repairs.
The drone is much quicker than using the hydraulic platform, which is stationary so it only allows you to see a limited area of the roof and had to be moved manually to various positions to get full coverage.
It used to take the best part of a weekend to complete a survey, but the helicopter gets it done in less than a day. It works out about 30% cheaper, and these savings are passed on to the tenant.
www.bonningtonsaerialsurveys.co.uk
Product news
JCB’s NEW Toughphone range of phones has been tested to military standards for damage resistance. Distributed by Data Select, owned by Dragons’ Den star Peter Jones, the range includes the £85 Sitemaster, which can withstand more than a tonne of pressure. The £199 Pro-Talk, meanwhile, combines rugged design with features such as a dual SIM, eight-channel two-way radio, camera, GPS and touch screen. And the £45 Tradesman is the world’s first floating mobile, perfect for sailors, surfers, or site workers liable to drop their phone down the loo.
Hilti has upgraded its range of electropneumatic breakers. For heavy demolition work, the TE 1500-AVR has an active cooling system, a triple-chamber lubrication system and a brushless maintenance-free motor for longer life. The TE 300-AVR is designed for jobs such as finishing work or smoothing imperfections on concrete surfaces. The TE 706-AVR combines high-impact energy with low vibration for concrete and masonry walls. And the 1000-AVR has an AVR sub-chassis to boost hammering performance and reduce vibration.
GenQuip has updated the features onboard its Roadhog, a self-contained mobile welfare facilities vehicle. Able to accommodate up to six people, the pod is powered by a 12V electrical system and features a WC with an isolated tank, washing facilities, a microwave, LED lighting, a heating system and a fresh water storage tank. The new vehicle’s chassis can be quickly detached from the welfare pod, allowing owners to sell the chassis, but retain the welfare pod for attachment to a new vehicle. Each pod has an average lifespan of 10 years.
Tips of the Trade
Using CCTV on site
01 Protect your cameras
It is worth checking whether your cameras have heaters to cope with the winter weather. Without a heater there is the potential for cameras to freeze up as temperatures plummet.
02 Keep sites tidy
Keep sites as tidy as possible. Polythene sheeting blowing around in the wind can set off beams and trigger constant unwanted activations, as can overgrown foliage.
03 Ensure lighting is adequate
Sites should be illuminated properly. Having vital areas of a site in darkness is far from ideal and, by the same token, too much light in the wrong place, for instance shining directly into cameras and blinding them, is not advisable.
04 Place the detectors correctly
The sun can become a major issue in winter, as it is lower in the sky. Ideally detectors should be placed in an east-west plane — if they are positioned incorrectly the outcome can be a high percentage of activations where there appears to be no visible cause.
05 Check the timer set-up
If remote monitoring and lighting are controlled separately, ensure you put the timer back on the lighting after British Summer Time ends. Left out of sync, the monitoring will come on but there will be an unwanted gap before the lighting follows.
By Pauline Norstrom, CCTV section chairman at the British Security Industry Association (BSIA). For more information, visit the BSIA website at www.bsia.co.uk. In a recent BSIA survey, construction ranked third amongst the sectors which BSIA CCTV members most frequently supplied solutions to, just behind motor dealerships and industrial sites.
