Case Study

Hammersmith & Fulham Council has begun using drones to help survey its homes and identify repairs. Working with specialist companies Drone360 and MLCS3, the council’s repairs and maintenance contractor Mitie launched the drone flights to help spot problems with buildings more quickly. This will save the council money over the long term as well as improve services for tenants and leaseholders.

“Using drones is just one way of improving our customer service to residents and spotting repairs more quickly and more cheaply.” said Cllr Lisa Homan, H&F Cabinet Member for Housing. “These drones are light, agile and impressive to watch. They will also save us a significant amount of money - which means we can spend more on the repair and maintenance of our homes.”

The drones are most commonly used instead of ugly and expensive scaffolding. Over the past few months the council has used drones to help complete external surveys on properties at Burne Jones House on the Lytton Estate in West Kensington, London and at Shepherds Court in Shepherds Bush, London.

Drones are operated by pilots who are specially trained and qualified in their use to record high resolution images and high definition video footage of building exteriors. This is a first in allowing the council to safely survey their properties from the ground.

Once airborne, the drone can complete a building survey in less than 30 minutes -which is a negligible period of time when compared to the days or weeks it has historically taken to complete inspections using traditional scaffolding.

“They are faster, cheaper and safer. What’s not to like?” added Cllr Homan.