Case study / Downtown Edmonton / Asset inspection
Facade leak inspection on Alberta's tallest tower
Water ingress inspection across the full facade of a 250.9 m tower, the tallest building in Canada outside Toronto, flown from the roof downward.
The challenge
Water was getting into a 66 storey tower and the source had to be found on the outside of the building. Conventional options are a swing stage, a rope access crew or a boom that reaches a fraction of the height, all of which are slow, expensive and give an inspector a narrow view of one panel at a time. The building also sits in the middle of downtown Edmonton with occupied floors, active streets below and an arena district around it.
The site
A 66 storey tower in downtown Edmonton's Ice District. At 250.9 metres it is the tallest building in Alberta, the tallest in Canada outside Toronto and the seventh tallest in the country.
Equipment and method
The flight launched from the roof of the tower rather than from street level, then worked downward across the facade. Launching from the top puts the aircraft at its working height from the first second and keeps the whole inspection inside a controlled descent, rather than a long climb from the street past occupied floors. Elevations were flown systematically so cladding, sealant, glazing and transitions were captured in sequence, and every finding could be tied to a floor and an elevation.
Airspace and safety
Downtown Edmonton sits inside controlled airspace, with the Ice District, an active arena and a hospital heliport in the surrounding area. Authorization was arranged ahead of the flight window, and the operation was planned around occupied floors, pedestrian traffic and the wind behaviour around a tower of this height.
Deliverables
High resolution imagery of the facade indexed by elevation and floor level, with suspected water ingress locations identified and positioned so a repair crew could be sent directly to them.
Result
The exterior was inspected across its full height without a swing stage, a rope crew or a single floor of disruption, and the findings arrived located rather than described. Working from the roof down turned an inspection that would otherwise have taken weeks of access equipment into a planned flight operation.
Project statistics
- Building height
- 250.9 m, 66 storeys
- Standing
- Tallest in Alberta
- In Canada
- Tallest outside Toronto
- Launch point
- Tower roof, flown downward
- Access equipment
- None required
- Airspace
- Downtown control zone
Named references are provided during scoping, so you can speak directly to a client who has run this kind of work.
How it works
See how we do the restHow we inspect a tower facade
Read the steps
- A fixed standoffEach face is planned at a fixed standoff distance, so every image has the same scale and detail and the aircraft stays clear of the building.
- Vertical lanesThe drone flies vertical lanes up and down each face with overlap between lanes, so no panel or joint is missed.
- Picking out defectsDefects are picked out in the close-up images: sealant gaps, cracked panels, corrosion staining, loose flashing.
- Floor and faceEach finding is numbered, photographed close up and tied to its floor and face, so your contractor can go straight to it.
- DeliverablesA findings report with numbered close-ups and locations, the full image set, and a certificate of insurance on request.