Specialist drone, geospatial & immersive technology services.
Precision aerial data, reality capture, asset inspection and immersive media for organisations that need technical excellence and measurable social value from one supplier.
Illustrative concept visual, not live client data.
Aerial data & reality
capture, end‑to‑end.
From single-flight inspections to multi-site programmes, we deliver survey-grade aerial data, reality capture and immersive outputs that fit straight into your existing workflows.
Schedule of Condition
Procurement-grade, defensible condition surveys: pre-acquisition, dilapidations, lease and solar pre-development.
Aerial surveys, mapping & monitoring
Topographic, volumetric, orthomosaic, LiDAR and thermal surveys with ±2cm RTK control and BIM-ready exports.
Media production
Brand films, FPV cinematography and project documentation, with survey-grade operational rigour.
Immersive disability access surveys
Navigable 360° access evidence aligned to the Equality Act 2010, BS 8300 and BS 9999, accessible by design.
360° virtual tours
Navigable tours for marketing, lettings, documentation and asset records, hosted and shareable.
Critical infrastructure inspection
Bridge, energy and transmission inspection, confined-space capable, cleared operators.
Managed flight operations
Credentialed pilot capacity for partner firms: subcontract, rotation, placement and white-label.
Capture is data.
Visualisation is
where it lands.
Survey-grade capture is the raw material. The deliverable is the moment a planner, asset manager or board can see a site, a structure, a thermal anomaly, and act. We render captured data into interrogable point clouds, classified surfaces and thermal mosaics.
Dense, classified, interrogable.
Aerial LiDAR and photogrammetry combined into a single registered point cloud, ground, vegetation, building and infrastructure classes separated, measurable and exportable to LAS, E57 and downstream BIM workflows.
Terrain you can act on.
Digital Terrain and Surface Models with survey-grade vertical control, achieved tolerances stated in each deliverable’s quality report. Contour generation, slope and aspect analysis, volume calculation, change-detection between captures, outputs that drop into design and planning systems.
Defects, before failures.
Radiometric thermal mosaics with anomaly detection across solar arrays, building envelopes and asset estates. Annotated, geo-located, severity-rated, and integrated with your inspection and maintenance systems.
Illustrative outputs representative of our deliverables, not specific client data.
The kit you fly with
is the data you
can defend.
A multi-sensor, CAA-aligned platform tuned for survey-grade output. RTK-controlled positioning, dual RGB and radiometric thermal, LiDAR-class point density. Built for the questions our work has to answer.
Centimetre positioning.
Onboard RTK GNSS with permanent or local base, every frame and every point geo-referenced to OSGB36 / ETRS89 in real time.
LiDAR + RGB payload.
240,000 pts/sec frame rate, up to 5 returns, ±2 cm range accuracy at 150 m. Integrated RGB camera for true-colour point clouds. Mapping and survey-grade output in one payload.
Redundant flight.
Four-rotor lift with redundant ESCs and IMUs, flown to documented emergency procedures. Up to 25 m/s top speed.
RGB + radiometric IR.
High-resolution RGB and °C-accurate radiometric thermal in a single stabilised gimbal. Co-registered output for direct comparison.
Zoom for the detail.
Optical zoom for close-range inspection without proximity flight, sub-mm defect visibility on roofs, facades, towers and high-voltage assets.
Specific category.
Operational Authorisation, A2 CofC and GVC operators. Insurance cover arranged to suit each project, including higher-limit cover where client frameworks or site conditions require it. Documented methodology on every engagement.
Technical delivery.
Social value by design.
Two outcomes from a single supplier engagement, without compromise to either.
Survey-grade outputs
CAA-aligned operations, GNSS-controlled accuracy, defensible methodology and deliverables that drop into your CAD, BIM and GIS stack.
Measurable impact
Workforce pathways into high-growth aerial & geospatial roles are connected to live commercial projects, evidenced for ESG and procurement reporting.
Procurement-ready
Frameworks-aligned documentation, social value calculations and risk-managed delivery built to satisfy public and private sector buyers.
Built for complex,
regulated environments.
We deliver into the sectors where data quality, access constraints and operational risk matter most, and where social value has procurement weight.
Construction & AEC
Progress monitoring, earthworks volumes, as-built capture, BIM verification.
/02Infrastructure & Engineering
Highways, rail corridors, bridges, telecoms towers, utilities networks.
/03Property & Facilities
Roof inspections, schedules of condition, facade surveys, marketing media.
/04Housing & Retrofit
Thermal stock assessment, defect detection, retrofit baseline capture.
/05Environmental & Conservation
Habitat surveys, vegetation indices, riverine and coastal monitoring.
/06Public Sector & LAs
Asset management, framework delivery, evidence-led reporting with social value.
/07Creative, Media & Events
FPV, cinematography, event coverage, brand films and immersive media.
/08Renewable energy
Solar and wind condition data, thermal anomaly detection and O&M monitoring.
From brief to
operational insight.
A four-stage delivery model designed around your project's risk profile, data requirements and reporting obligations.
-
01Discover
Define the question the data needs to answer.
Project scoping, site risks, data requirements, deliverable formats, deadlines, stakeholders, social value targets.
-
02Plan
Flight planning, safety and methodology.
CAA permissions, OSC where relevant, ground control, methodology statements, RAMS, GNSS strategy, capture density.
-
03Capture
Drone, ground and reality-capture data acquisition.
RGB, thermal, LiDAR, 360, GNSS, terrestrial photogrammetry, captured to the density and accuracy your output requires.
-
04Deliver
Processed outputs, models, reports, evidence.
PDFs, DWGs, GeoTIFFs, point clouds, meshes, digital twins, annotated reports and social value evidence, to your spec.
Example use cases.
Illustrative examples of the work our methodology supports, not verified client case studies. See all examples →
M-corridor culvert survey,
14 km, 11 structures.
Example: PPK-controlled photogrammetry of a live highway corridor with hidden culvert structures, delivered as a single referenced point cloud and per-asset condition pack.
View example →Retrofit baseline,
340 dwellings.
Example: a thermal-mosaic baseline for a retrofit programme, outputs feeding PAS 2035 assessor packs and social value reporting.
View example →Listed facade,
pre-works SOC.
Example: aerial + ground capture of a listed facade ahead of adjacent demolition, defensible photographic record, 3D mesh and PDF schedule.
View example →Built from resilience.
Designed for impact.
Sky Based Specialists Ltd is part of a wider mission shaped by aviation, technology and inclusive employment.
We exist to prove a simple thesis: high-performance technical services and measurable social impact can be delivered through the same operating model, and that buyers shouldn't have to choose between the two.
About SBS →"We're not a drone company that does social value. We're a specialist technical delivery partner where the workforce model is part of the engineering, and that's why our outputs land."
Need specialist aerial data,
inspection or reality
capture support?
Tell us about your project, site constraints, output requirements and any social value commitments. We'll come back with a scoped proposal, usually within two working days.