Blackpool seafront roofs, without the scaffolding

Drone Site Surveys inspects hotels, guest houses, leisure buildings and housing stock across Blackpool and the Fylde coast, where salt and driven rain shorten roof life. High-resolution imagery, thermal, measured drawings and 3D models from one visit. No scaffolding, no rooms out of service.

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Drone Surveys & Inspection Blackpool

Drone Roof Surveys in Blackpool

We survey hotels, guest houses, leisure buildings and housing stock across Blackpool and the Fylde coast. Seafront property here takes a harder beating than almost anywhere in the North West – driven rain, salt and sustained onshore wind – and roof defects tend to develop faster than owners expect. A drone survey records the full roof, including the parapets and valleys you cannot see from the promenade, in a single visit.

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What we survey in Blackpool

Blackpool’s seafront hotel stock is dominated by rendered elevations with slate or concrete-tile pitched roofs behind parapets, and the junction between the two is where we find most water ingress. Behind the front, large flat-roofed leisure and retail buildings present a different problem: ponding, failed felt laps and blocked outlets. Salt corrosion of fixings, flashings and rooflight frames is a consistent finding across both types.

Airspace and access in Blackpool

Blackpool Airport sits to the south of the town and operates a flight restriction zone. [VERIFY current FRZ dimensions and any seasonal arrangements.] The promenade presents a crowd-density question rather than an airspace one, particularly during the Illuminations season, and we plan flight positions and timings accordingly. Blackpool Tower and the piers are further considerations when working the central seafront.

Local sectors we work with

Most property we survey in Blackpool is occupied, exposed to the weather and hard to take out of use, even for a day.

Care homes and supported living. The Fylde coast has one of the highest concentrations of care homes in the country, many in converted hotels with the same parapets, valley gutters and flat-roof extensions as the seafront. A drone survey is quiet, quick and needs no access inside, so residents aren’t disturbed. Dated imagery supports maintenance planning and shows CQC or your estates team how the building is being looked after.

Hotels, guest houses and holiday parks. No rooms out of service, and whole parks covered in a single visit.

Leisure and retail landlords. Large flat roofs where ponding and blocked outlets are the recurring problems.

Housing associations, letting agents and HMO landlords. Stock condition programmes and evidence for disrepair disputes.

Insurers and loss adjusters. Dated imagery of storm damage along the coast.

Frequently Asked questions about surveying by Drones in Blackpool

FAQ's

Q: Do you survey hotels while they are occupied?
A: Yes. No scaffolding or access equipment is needed, so guests are not disturbed, and no rooms need to be taken out of service. We agree timings in advance and can work early in the day.

Q: Can you identify salt damage to fixings?
A: High-resolution imagery shows corroded fixings, failing flashings and degraded rooflight frames clearly. A thermal examination can be added where water ingress is suspected but the entry point is not visible.

Q: Can you survey the whole seafront in one visit?
A: For multi-property portfolios we plan a route and survey consecutive buildings in a single mobilisation, which is significantly cheaper than booking each separately.

Monitor Your Building's and Sites From Above

Blackpool Council Drone Usage Policy

After contacting Blackpool Council, here is the information received back

Recent changes in legislation have affected the areas in which drones can legally be operated. It is
now illegal to fly a drone or small unmanned aerial vehicle within an airport’s notified Aerodrome
Traffic Zone and associated Flight Restriction Zones, unless specific permission is granted by the
airport operator.
Blackpool Airport may authorise drone flights within their vicinity subject to certain conditions.
Firstly, any drone operator wishing to obtain permission must hold CAA approval and have an
associated CAA ID number as published in the Approved Operator list found at www.dronesafe.uk.
Secondly, permission for the flight needs to be applied for no less than one week prior to the
required date in order to allow sufficient time to consider the impact on aviation activities and to
allow consultation with other aviation entities if necessary.
Applications should be made by email to the following addresses:
safeguarding@blackpoolairport.com and
atc@blackpoolairport.com
A form will then be emailed back to the applicant requiring the following details:
 Operator’s name and Company
 Contact number and email address
 CAA ID number
 Flight date and start/finish time
 Drone type
 Location and maximum operating height
 Description of the drone activity
This does not guarantee permission for the flight as each case is assessed individually.
Non CAA approved drone fliers are recommended to operate their drones outside of the ATZ and
FRZs at all times. The ATZs do not exist outside of the notified and/or NOTAMed operating hours of
the airport, but be aware that the airport is often used by aircraft outside of those hours, especially
police and air ambulance aircraft.
All drone flyers are recommended to read www.dronesafe.uk for up to date rules and regulations;
there is also a useful map of all UK ATZ/FRZs and a copy of the UK Dronecode on the webpage.

This information was received from Blackpool Council on the 26th August 2021. We would recommend that all drone fliers whether professional or recreational should carry out their own research regarding flying in the areas that you intend to fly in, as the drone laws in the UK are changing and we believe that there will be updates over the coming months.