The use of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) – aka drones – has grown rapidly in the industry in recent years. Some 34% of decision makers in construction businesses said drone technology is either already in use in their industry or will be in the future, in response to a survey carried out by YouGov on behalf of Charles Russell Speechlys. Here, we consider the legal issues that arise.

What are drones used for? 

There are a number of potential uses for drones on construction sites, including:

• Building surveys Performing a building survey using a drone can save time and money. 3D images can be produced and processed more efficiently using drone technology.
• Health and safety Site plans can be quickly and efficiently updated to show where different works are taking place, making it much easier to convey this information on a regular basis to site operatives.
• Progress reports These reports are often prepared monthly to record site progress against the project programme and usually involve the surveyor or contract administrator taking multiple photographs of different parts of the site. Using a drone regularly can provide a faster and more effective way of recording project progress. The drone can also fly the same path multiple times a day to create time-lapse images for comparative analysis. 
• Building information modelling (BIM) Drones can quickly collect high-resolution images to input into PC or cloud-based photogrammetry systems to produce 3D maps and point clouds. The aerial perspective and digital data provides greater consistency and data density for use in BIM.