Surveying for Warmer Homes

Authors: Simon Hall & Mat Mullen

Introduction

Rising costs, including mortgage rates, rent, energy bills and food, are making it difficult for millions of households to keep their heads above financial choppy waters. Simple surveying works can help to make properties more energy efficient, reduce carbon footprints, and save money in times of economic struggle.

Founded in 2010 by the directors of KSN, KSN Energy is the product of innovative growth and client demand for reliable advice on sustainable issues within the built environment. KSN Energy has developed its team to provide a one-stop-shop that can assist in the retrofitting and upgrading of properties on a significant scale. The services provided include energy auditing and building energy ratings (BERs), scheme management, quality control, energy credit verification, site conformance inspections, product specification development and other energy-related services.

Increase property energy efficiency

In 2012, KSN Energy were contracted to survey homes for thermal upgrades of the fabric and heating for people living in fuel poverty. Their goal was to accurately measure homes in order to create work orders for the energy saving measures to be carried out on the properties. These upgrades form an integral part of a plan to meet the targets set out in the Climate Action Plan of the Government of Ireland, a detailed plan for taking decisive action to achieve a 51% reduction in overall greenhouse gas emissions by 2030.

The dimensions of the fabric of the dwellings are measured e.g., wall, window, floor, and roof area. This data is then used to calculate a work order for the measures to be installed, and establish if the dwelling falls under the requirement of TGD L “Major renovations”.

Challenges

One of the biggest challenges for KSN Energy was to find a product that would accurately measure the external façades of dwellings from ground level. Following this, their team of surveyors could create a sketch of the elevation that would be read on-site. This could then be uploaded without the need to transfer the information to another platform, allowing the project to be closed out on-site.

Their traditional methods were to hand sketch on site and to measure external areas with a tape measure. However, this was not a reliable method of data capture, as they wanted consistency and confidence in a product.

“We needed to try and remove “human error”, measure inaccessible parts of homes, and create consistent sketches with the confidence that the areas were measured accurately. This is where Leica Geosystems came in."
Mat Mullen | Associate Director – KSN Energy

Implementation

KSN Energy have been using Leica Geosystems products since its inception. Ruari Telford, Business Development Manager with Leica Geosystems Ireland contacted KSN Energy to see if there would be benefit in exploring solutions to their issues at the time. Some KSN Energy staff had used Leica Geosystems products in previous organisations. With the assistance of Leica Geosystems and Survey Instrument Services (SIS), KSN Energy trialled the Leica BLK3D, BLK360, DISTO S910 and the DISTO X4.

The key for KSN Energy was to have a product where they did not need an external drawing system to complete the works. The number of homes that were surveyed was in the thousands. Therefore, they needed a programme that would capture accurate data in order to reduce surveyor error, allow for easy sharing and assist in calculating the cost of materials.

Upon completion of the product trials, KSN Energy selected the Leica DISTO X4 to complete the measurement tasks. The DISTO X4, an upgrade on the X3 with the addition of a point finder camera, allowed KSN Energy Surveyors to aim the laser point using the full colour, high-resolution display. They simply lined up the desired measurement point in the on-display crosshairs, and the X4 provided a precise measurement.

The Leica DST 360 is a smart tripod and adapter set that extends the measurement possibilities of the X4. With the DST 360, the X4 turns into a professional measurement station, providing point to point (P2P) measurements from one location. When used with the DST 360, the X4 combined rotation, angle, and distance data to produce highly accurate Point-to Point (P2P) measurements, which allowed KSN Energy to accurately measure distances between any two points from a third position.

KSN Energy’s Quality Assurance team worked in the background, comparing Leica products onsite against traditional surveying methods. Once they identified the product that best suited their needs, onsite training was carried out with the on-site teams and their processes were updated.

“William Flynn from Survey Instrument Services came out on si te on a number of occasions and demonstrated different products. They kindly loaned the products to us and allowed us to explore what suited our surveyors. They checked in following the exploratory process looking for feedback and offered further assistance.”
Mat Mullen | Associate Director – KSN Energy

A view to the future

The benefits of the Leica DISTO X4 to KSN Energy were the improved accuracy for measuring, digital data capture, ease of sharing information, reduced cost of materials and reduced surveyor error.

The key for KSN Energy was to obtain accurate data capture, increasing efficiency and saving money for all stakeholders involved. Although productivity remained the same for field-based teams, KSN Energy foresee that productivity will increase for office-based staff. More accurate data will allow them to handle a smaller number of variations and process queries more efficiently.

As KSN Energy begin this journey with Leica, they are confident that the data their team is capturing will be reliable and influence future operations. KSN Energy are planning to use Leica Geosystems technologies with other programmes to create digital floor plans on-site, and are currently researching how this can be implemented.