Regen scheme close to take off as repairs engineer steps in

A repairs engineer-turned-drone pilot has helped capture some stunning aerial photographs of Staffordshire’s latest regeneration project.

As Bromford looked to put together a number of technical drawings ahead of construction work starting at Lullington Road, in Clifton Campville, they were faced with a potentially hefty bill for outsourcing a company to carry out the aerial photography. In stepped Andy Flury, a multi-skilled engineer in the West Midlands repairs team, to send a drone 400ft above the Staffordshire countryside in order to capture the required footage.

Andy, who gained his commercial drone pilot licence 12 months ago and now runs DroneUp.Uk outside of his day job, saved the company hundreds of pounds by stepping in to help. The photography captured through a high definition camera shows the 12 empty properties that will soon be demolished as part of a £4m investment in the area.

Sense

Planning permission on its second Staffordshire regen site was granted in the summer and now 28 new two and three bedroom energy efficient homes will be built in its place. Bromford, which owns or manages more than 4,700 homes across the Lichfield district, is also in the finishing stages of its inaugural regeneration project at Levett Road with homes expected to be complete in November.

“I love my role as a multi-skilled engineer but it was great to be able to help a different part of the business out,” Andy said. “By day I’m an engineer but outside of work this has developed into a real passion of mine and I’m already working with some really big clients. Professionals that have been doing it for years would charge up to £750-per-day for the same work so it was brilliant to be able to survey the site at Clifton Campville and cost-wise made absolute sense for Bromford.”

Suzanne Shead, Bromford’s head of locality, added: “We have so much talent right across the business so this is just another example of where we can make significant savings by keepings costs in-house as we look to bring real investment to Staffordshire through the second of three regeneration programmes in this county.

“It will be fantastic to see these homes cleared and brand new energy efficient homes built instead. We know they will meet a real local demand both for affordable rented homes as well as people looking to get a first step on the property ladder through shared ownership.”