Blackburn’s historic Griffin Lodge, which is the Grade II listed building, will undergo a multi-million-pound transformation from a neglected and burnt-out shell into a state-of-the-art GP super-surgery serving thousands of patients.
That revival is one step closer and the credit goes to a drone survey by Burnley firm Networx3 UAV which has captured the condition of the 197-year-old landmark ahead of its redevelopment.
Networx3 UAV managing director and CAA-approved professional pilot Ian Ashworth led the Griffin Lodge drone flight.
“Most local people in Blackburn will have walked past Griffin Lodge in recent years and thought ‘what a pity’ at its sorry state. Flying a drone over it, swooping through broken windows, and hovering beside collapsed walls has given surveyors and developers an up-to-the-minute snapshot of the state of disrepair,” he was quoted as saying.
The flight over and inside the three-storey building using Networx3 UAV’s industry-leading Elios2 and Matrice 210 drones identified dangerous walls, where the roof remains intact and weather damage without inspectors having to put themselves in harm’s way by entering the dangerous structure in person.
“The quality of the photos and video from the Networx3 UAV drones has blown our socks off. It’s given us an immediate and detailed view of what condition Griffin Lodge is in. Because you can view from above and lots of different angles using the drone you can see things that a normal inspection wouldn’t reveal at ground level,” CRC Design boss Cyril Cambridge, was quoted as saying.
