A few weeks ago we were commissioned to take some inspection photographs of a building in Cricklewood, London, where a roof-level facade of bricks appeared to be sagging under its own weight, as well as bowing inwards towards the rest of the building. The building’s owners, understandably concerned, called in a structural engineering firm to investigate.
The roof itself was inaccessible without using a cherry picker or scaffolding, so the only option for performing a visual inspection of the facade was either to use a drone or a telescopic mast. As this building was on the corner of a very busy road junction, using the drone was not an option — so it was
Mast aerial inspection photographs of a roof-level facade of bricks in Cricklewood, London — notice the lack of metal brick ties holding the facade to the rest of the building! Click to enlarge.
As soon as our mast was erected, it was immediately apparent why the stack of bricks was starting to wander / sag / misbehave — there was nothing tying the brick facade to the rest of the building! The images above were taken from both ends of the facade with the camera on our telescopic mast and they clearly show that the space between the facade and the building is void of brick ties — metal straps which should have been used in the construction of this facade to integrate it into the structure of the building.
Photographs of our telescopic mast taking aerial inspection imagery of a suspect roof-level brick facade in Cricklewood, London. Click to enlarge.
The photos above show the mast in the positions it was erected to take the inspection photographs — as you can see, this was a very congested environment, and it would have been very difficult / impossible to use a drone or a vehicle-mounted mast in this situation. All in all, we were on site for less than an hour so the inconvenience to local residents and members of the public using the pavement was kept to an absolute minimum.
Do you have an awkwardly-shaped building that needs to be inspected for insurance or renovation purposes? We offer aerial inspection services using both our telescopic mast and remote-controlled drone – whatever your project, we have every angle covered. Contact us today for more information and we’ll happily discuss your requirements with you.