Derby Schools & Nurseries - 3D Drone Surveys

Written by J.Jackson | Published 1st September 2026

Roof inspections can become costly and disruptive when access requires scaffolding, mobile elevated work platforms or other specialist equipment. For this project, the client wanted a more efficient way to inspect roof areas and identify potential damage without having to provide physical access to every part of each building.

Client Goals

Derby City Council appointed SolidPoint to carry out 3D drone surveys across 9 schools and nurseries across the city. The purpose of the project was to gather detailed visual information on the condition of each building's roof, helping the Council understand what was present before planning future maintenance and roofing works.

Drone surveying was particularly well suited to the project because it allowed detailed imagery to be collected from areas that would otherwise be difficult to inspect from ground level. The project information supplied by our surveyors also identified avoiding unnecessary scaffolding costs and gaining an accurate view of the existing roofs as key objectives.

For this specification, the buildings were captured from within approximately 10 metres wherever suitable access allowed, providing a higher level of detail for condition and dilapidation analysis. Additional imagery was collected across the elevations from accessible lower-level areas up to eaves level, alongside comprehensive coverage of the roofs.

The captured aerial photographs were then processed to produce detailed fully coloured 3D drone models. Rather than leaving the client with individual photographs alone, the 3D environment provides a much clearer representation of each building and allows users to navigate around the property and return to specific areas of interest.

Project Deliverables

Derby City Council received a comprehensive set of drone survey information covering all nine schools and nurseries, including:

• • High-resolution aerial drone imagery
  • Higher-detail 3D drone survey models
  • Detailed roof coverage for condition assessment
  • Additional imagery of accessible elevations up to eaves level
  • Detailed capture from within approximately 10 metres where suitable
  • Fully coloured 3D mesh models
  • Online hosting of the 3D models for six months, with extensions available
  • Optional fully coloured OBJ mesh files on request

2. Reduced reliance on scaffolding and access equipment

Inspecting nine separate roofs using traditional access methods could require significant time and expenditure before the inspection itself even begins.

By collecting the required information remotely, the drone surveys reduced the need to install scaffolding purely to gain a visual understanding of each roof. This was a specific consideration for the client, who wanted to inspect roof damage without incurring additional scaffolding costs wherever it could be avoided.

Across a portfolio of 9 educational properties, the ability to use the same efficient method at each site made the approach particularly valuable.