What is a Measured Building Survey?

If your business requires an accurate digital representation of a building or structure, then you’ll need a measured building survey. Why? Because a survey can help you make more informed decisions and avoid costly mistakes. Read on to learn more…

What is a measured building survey?

A measured building survey is a cost-effective method of accurately representing new or existing buildings or structures in a digital format – showing all structural elements and highlighting architectural facets.

This is achieved when laser measurement equipment is used to record each structural element – including walls and beams. Additional details including floor levels, heights, doors, and windows are then included along with descriptive text to create a concise and extremely accurate representation of the building or structure.

When would you need a measured building survey?

Surveys are required by architects during planning of extensions or renovations to a property to record a building’s internal floor plans, cross sections, and internal and external elevations with rich detail. With this digitalised version of a property, the architect can gain an accurate understanding of the current condition of the building.

How would you receive the finished data?

Final data can be supplied to you in a raw format to be passed onto your architect, engineer, or in-house CAD team. Alternatively, our expert team of AutoCAD technicians can produce drawings and plans for you in a variety of 2D and 3D formats.

What are the benefits of measured building surveys?

The benefits include:

• Speed: We understand time is money, and by utilising the latest technologies, our surveys are quick and efficient – minimising disruption and getting important data to you often within a couple of days.
• Safety: As a survey provides a thorough, rich in detail representation of your building, any potential dangers are highlighted.
• Cost efficiency: Measured building surveys minimise the chances of costly mistakes, which helps spare both time and money.

What equipment is used?

We conduct our surveys using the latest laser measurement equipment (including the Trimble X7 laser scanner and the Leica RTC360) to RICS standard specifications.

The Leica RTC360 is an impressively fast and accurate tool with the ability to scan a 79m² room in just 26 seconds and produce highly reliable 3D representations.

As the equipment captures a large amount of data in millimetre accuracy, only one site visit should be required, which helps to keep project costs down.

What types of building do we survey?

All types of building can be surveyed, from houses and apartment blocks to schools, listed buildings and commercial properties like offices, shops, and leisure centres. We can output floor plans up to full scale survey data with roof plans, reflective ceiling plans, internal and external elevations. We surveyed over 20 local authority buildings for the Aston Group – take a look here.