According to a survey carried out by dronesdirect.co.uk, one of the UK’s leading drone retailers, 12% of construction firms are now using drone technology.
The report, which is based on a survey of 3,000 drone users and data from thousands of sales of drones, states that trade (construction/plumbing) businesses have adopted drones faster than any other industry.
According to the report, half a million people are using drones for commercial purposes – and construction firms are among those leading the way. Across all industries the most popular usages for drones are photography, surveys and security.
The UK is a popular base for developing and testing commercial applications of UAVs. The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has also recently relaxed several of the current regulations surrounding UK drone usage for commercial trials, in response to requests from Amazon to trial its Prime Air delivery service, including the operation of vehicles without direct line of sight and the use of anti-collision technology.
Tim Morley, category manager at DronesDirect.co.uk, said: “It’s great to see construction businesses incorporating drones into their day-to-day practices to make processes simpler and more efficient.
“The recent change in CAA regulations shows they are open to working with businesses to identify how best these exciting technologies can be applied, encouraging drone usage within a commercial environment, to bring an array of new benefits to consumers and businesses.
“We anticipate even more businesses using drones following the recent change in rules from the CAA.”
The Top 10 business sectors utilising drones
- Trades (construction/plumbing) 11.5%
- Manufacturing 9.9%
- Information and communications 9.1%
- Creative and photographic 8.8%
- Transportation 7.7%
- Professional services (eg law/accountancy) 6.6%
- Marketing 5.1%
- Education 4.7%
- Retail 4%
- Healthcare (eg pharmacy, care homes, hospitals) 3.3%
Image: Eugenesergeev/Dreamstime.com
The recent change in CAA regulations shows they are open to working with businesses to identify how best these exciting technologies can be applied, encouraging drone usage within a commercial environment.– Tim Morley, DronesDirect.co.uk
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Although enjoying greater adoption of drones than any other industry, I believe the actual level of drone adoption in the UK construction industry is still relatively low within the industry itself. As a drone operator providing aerial image capture services for inspections and 3d modelling, I (and industry colleagues ) have been pondering the reason for this slow adoption considering the obvious time and cost benefits of drones. It may be because of perceived safety issues. If so I think it is up to us (operators) to show that that flights can be made safely and the risks managed just like any other piece of construction equipment. Certainly those companies that adopt the use of drones will be reaping the rewards of faster and more cost effective processes.