Drones take to the skies in Nottingham to inspect council houses

Nottingham City Homes has found an innovative and cost saving way of inspecting the roofs of council homes in the city.

NCH have taken to the skies for the first time to carry out roof inspections on some properties. By using these drones, it will help to diagnose issues quicker and save the company money. It also means that it won’t be as invasive to the tenant – as we can identify problems more efficiently, rather than having to use scaffolding.

The first drone inspection was carried out on a property in Bulwell, which was suffering from a water leak through the roof.

NCH tenant Julie Cross, was one of the first to have her roof inspected, she said: “It was a very interesting thing to have done, and I believe more cost effective too. It only took a couple of hours rather than have scaffolding outside for weeks, I was grateful to be asked to take part in this pilot, and impressed with the whole operation. Hopefully the problems that I have been having will be sorted, now that we have a bird’s eye view of my roof”

The pilot drone scheme will now be used to inspect further roofs on council properties across the city. It means that previously undiagnosed issues can easily be identified and put right quicker.

NCH will also work with Nottingham City Council to carry our joint work on those homes with problems and with solar panels installed – sharing resources, which would save both organisations money.

Speaking about the new and innovative way of inspecting roof issues, Adrian Cheetham, Director of Property at Nottingham City Homes said: “We are always looking for modern, innovative and cost saving ways of carry our repairs, without comprising the quality of the work.

“We are one of those leading the way by using drones to inspect council house properties from above and we believe this is going to help us diagnose issues more quickly and thoroughly. We will be working with partners to carry out joint work on properties, which will also save us money but means less disruption to our tenants”