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Full measured surveys were carried out for 13 schools in Hertfordshire within the month of March 2013, working to a strict timescale to support the county’s investment in the Primary School Expansion Programme. CAD plans produced by Terrain Surveys will be used as a basis for design and construction of school extensions to accommodate 204 children by September 2014.

Hertfordshire County Council has since announced that 10 of the schools are to go ahead, subject to final planning decisions in June and July.

In a recent press announcement Justin Donovan, Director of Education and Early Intervention, said: “Like many other local authorities, Hertfordshire is in a challenging position with a significant rise in the number of children registered with GPs who will require primary school places within the next few years. The proposed 2014 programme will enable us to provide the right number of places in the right location while making sure that the expansions are affordable and maintain the quality of our schools.”

Birth rates in the county have exceeded previous forecasts, as highlighted in the council’s ‘Meeting the rising demand for school places’ report, which identified the need for extra school places in 2009, following a period of falling demand between 2000 and 2007. The latest update to this report estimates that the additional need for school places is likely to be even higher than originally reported.

To ensure this pressing demand is satisfied with new schools built on time and cost-effectively, Hertfordshire uses the SMARTE East framework, which encourages collaborative working and sharing of best practice between projects in Hertfordshire, Essex and Suffolk. Terrain Surveys were selected through Hertfordshire’s Property, Estates & Specialist Consultancy (PESC) framework, having extensive experience of rapid turnaround of projects in schools throughout the UK.

Working with EC Harris on behalf of the Education Funding Agency (EFA), Terrain Surveys Ltd. have completed extensive surveys of 18 schools in the North East with pressing needs for refurbishment.

This is the first batch from a total of 27 state schools in the region which have been allocated funds to rebuild or refurbish. The first batch will be delivered under one contract and early projects are expected to be complete by 2014.

An outline business case is being prepared for all 18 primary and secondary schools in the batch, based on detailed surveys, cost estimates and affordability assessments, to determine the procurement strategy. Funding will be either by capital grant or private finance (PFI), depending on the recommendations of this strategy.

For capital grants, funding will be part of the £4.3bn which has been allocated to maintain the school estate and refurbish schools in 2012-13 and the total of £15.8bn to be spent over the next 4 years, to a select 600 schools.

Terrain were closely involved with project managers as well as liaising with individual schools in Newcastle upon Tyne and surrounding areas, to carry out detailed topographical surveys and map underground services. Survey work commenced in August 2012 and completed on time in November 2012.

On 22nd October, Terrain Surveys hosted their first CPD seminar in St. Albans. The audience of architects and engineers contributed to lively discussion about the take-up of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and gave some very positive feedback. The company now plans to host similar events for practices elsewhere in the UK.

The presentation explains the role of 3D laser scanning and shows how the technique supports BIM. For those practices who are considering investing in BIM, evidence of the benefits of 3D laser scanning and 3D models over 2D drawings are considered in detail. The benefits are emphasized by recent research carried out in the USA as well as real examples closer to home. It also covers implementation issues and industry trends.

According to John Lane, Director of Terrain Surveys Ltd. “We have been through a steep learning curve this year in understanding BIM, preparing a business case for 3D laser scanning, investing in Revit and becoming efficient in production. Now we have capability in this area, we wanted to share some of our learnings with others, and discuss the way forward for BIM in general.”

The seminar is offered to architects, engineers and project managers with an interest in BIM or laser scanning. To book a presentation, please call Maria Brogden on: 01438 841300, or email maria@terrainsurveys.co.uk.

On 10th October, the Duke of Edinburgh reviewed Terrain Surveys’ 3D laser scanner at the Business and Technology Centre (btc) in Stevenage, during the official opening of the ‘My Incubator’ facility.

The Duke was interested to hear about how the scanner captures a 3D point cloud, with intricate detail of architectural features.

John Lane, Director of Terrain Surveys Ltd. commented, “We talked briefly about how our new equipment can save time and cost compared with traditional surveying techniques, particularly for historic buildings.”

Terrain Surveys have been working with the btc, which provides flexible facilities and business support to local companies, as a partnership between Wenta and Stevenage Borough Council.

Chris Pichon, Chief Executive of Wenta, said: “We were absolutely thrilled to be part of this historic visit and to show the Duke of Edinburgh some of the many innovative activities and new technologies from Stevenage businesses and organisations.”

The Duke was welcomed by a range of local business and community leaders, including John Wood, Chief Executive of Hertfordshire County Council; Cllr John Lloyd, Mayor of Stevenage; Cllr Sharon Taylor, Leader of Stevenage Borough Council and Chris Pichon, Chief Executive of Wenta.

Terrain Surveys Ltd is delighted to announce the recruitment of three new team members to support buoyant demand for 3D laser scanning, topographical and measured building surveys.

Stuart Mendelson joins the team as a Land Surveyor, following 5 years in the Royal Engineers where he achieved Top Recruit commendation and progressed to Squadron Surveyor and Team Leader. Stuart was responsible for setting out a new runway for Camp Bastion airport in Afghanistan and has been Lead Engineer for several bridge and road building projects.

Tom Mitchell and Ricky Ashra have been recruited as Placement Students for 12 months as part of their Engineering surveying degree at Nottingham Trent University. Tom, from Huddersfield and Ricky from Edgware, have been sharing their time between Terrain’s office in Welwyn and Newcastle upon Tyne where they are already making a strong contribution to the team involved in the Education Funding Agency project to survey 18 schools in the North East.

Terrain Surveys has been appointed by EC Harris on behalf of the Education Funding Agency (EFA), to survey 18 schools in the North East which have pressing needs for refurbishment.

At 5am on the last day in August, over twenty colourful hats appeared on statues throughout the capital. The highest, on Nelson’s column, was craned into place during pitch darkness following weeks of preparation, including wind-tunnel tests and a secret laser-scan survey which accurately measured the statue’s hat size.

The event was organised by the Mayor of London and Grazia magazine to celebrate London festival 2012 and to promote British Millinery talent. Following months of careful planning, hats were installed overnight on statues from Marble Arch to the Bank of England, to give tourists and Londoners a colourful surprise on the first Tuesday of the Olympics.

The hat itself, complete with Union flag and a replica Olympic torch, was designed by Britain’s oldest hatters, Locke & Co; famous for making Lord Nelson’s original bicorn hat in 1803. Whilst the hatters used traditional techniques, a team of experienced land surveyors from Terrain Surveys Ltd applied the latest technology to measure the statue from a distance. A laser scanner was used to capture a 3D model of the statue of Nelson with millimetre accuracy, from vantage points on roofs surrounding Trafalgar Square, including Canada House and the National Gallery.

According to John Lane from Terrain Surveys Ltd. “Gaining accurate measurements would have been impossible using traditional surveying techniques. This new equipment gives a completely accurate model of Nelson’s head in precise detail, even though the statue is up to 90m away from the scanner. During the scanning it was stipulated that we avoid directing the laser beam below the foot of the statue where there were a pair of kestrels nesting. ”

Measuring the statue was part of a secret operation organised by Blonstein & Associates, the production company for HATWALK. From the 3D digital model delivered by Terrain Surveys, a full size plywood bust was produced and installed in a wind tunnel to test that the hat would withstand the worst of British weather.

The above image of Nelson’s statue was produced by creating a 3D meshed model from the pointcloud data.  The model was then imported into 3D Studio Max where lighting and effects were applied before rendering.

Following our investment in laser scanning technology at the start of the year we have seen a growing interest in our 3D laser scanning services. We have recently been commissioned to carry out the scanning of three local railway stations with point cloud files as the deliverable. The client requires detailed scanning of the stations both inside and out for them to produce 3D models where required.

Keeping up to date with current customer demands and the growth in BIM(Building Information Modelling) we have invested in Revit Architecture. Producing measured surveys in Revit results in an intelligent 3D model, from which drawing files and construction documents can be extracted. If you would like to discuss your development project being modelled in Revit, please contact us to discuss or to provide you with a quotation.

Our measured survey teams continue to be extremely busy carrying out topographical surveys and measured building surveys with projects ranging from residential and commercial properties, development land, golf courses and schools. Over the past couple of months we have produced topographical surveys with underground services tracing of several schools for Herts County Council as part of their expansion programme for infant and junior schools.

Terrain Surveys have started 2012 with investment in new survey equipment and we have recently added a new member to our growing team. With an increasing demand in laser scanning we have invested in a Leica C10 HDS Scanner, and also upgraded our GPS survey equipment.

With the investment in laser scanning technology we continue to improve the quality and efficiency of our services. Laser scanning offers rapid non-contact capture of 3D data, particularly vital to sensitive sites, and no return site visits due to the completeness of data.  From highly accurate survey data we can provide a wide range of survey deliverables depending on your requirements, including 2D drawings, 3D models and pointcloud datasets.

Finally, we welcome the latest member of our survey team, Dan Mills, who joined us this February as a Survey Assistant.

We continue this year with a busy workload, with all our survey teams busy on measured building and topographical surveys, including a 20 bedroom residential property in Mayfair.

Recent projects have included a measured survey of a bridge over the River Lea in Luton, which was scanned with a Leica C10 laser scanner. The bridge is currently closed to traffic as there are structural issues needing to be rectified. The image above shows a slice of the pointcloud close to the bridge structure. A topographical survey, bridge plans, elevations and a series of sections were produced as deliverables.

We also have several interesting projects waiting to start including further measured surveys at Fort Gilkicker in Gosport and a large country estate in Oxfordshire.

It has been a busy few months at Terrain Surveys with several commissions for topographical surveys and measured building surveys. As a result of our workload we have continued to expand our survey team by employing a new staff member.

In June we were commissioned to carry out a measured survey of a fascinating Victorian fort located near Gosport, Hampshire. Overlooking the Solent, Fort Gilkicker is a Grade II listed building and scheduled ancient monument with a proposed development to convert to luxury apartments. With the aid of a Leica HD laser scanner the fort was scanned internally and externally to produce detailed floor plans, elevations and sections, as well as a topographical survey of the site.

We welcome the latest member of out survey team, Lewis Coleman, who joined us in June as a Survey Assistant.

Congratulations go to Alec Thomas who recently completed his BSc (Hons) Surveying and Mapping Sciences at the University of East London. Alec is the latest of our land surveyors that the company has provided day release education for professional dvelopment.

Finally, Director, Colin Wheeldon, successfully completed the Oxfam Trailwalker Challenge in July. Colin along with three other team members walked the South Downs Way between Petersfield and Brighton, a distance 62 miles. The team completed the walk in 27 hours and raised over £3,000 for Oxfam and The Gurkha Welfare Trust.