Services
Drone Survey & Inspection Measured Building Survey Topographical Survey LiDAR Survey Photogrammetry CAD & Revit / BIMSurveys for architects,
accurate enough to design on.
Every design decision inherits the accuracy of the survey beneath it. Norelo gives architectural practices millimetre-accurate measured surveys, topographical surveys and Revit-ready scan-to-BIM, on your template, your layers and your deadlines, so the as-existing base is the one part of the project you never have to question.
Design starts where the survey stops
Retrofit, extension and reuse now dominate architectural workloads, and every one of those projects begins inside a building or site that already exists. If the as-existing drawings are wrong, everything drawn on top of them is wrong too: openings that don’t line through, levels that surprise the contractor, and variations that eat the fee.
Norelo removes that risk at source. We laser scan the building, capture the site by drone LiDAR and total station, and produce the drawings and Revit models in-house, one accountable team from site to sheet, delivering a base your whole design team can trust to the millimetre.
The survey package behind your project
From feasibility to handover, each service drops into a different stage of your project, and they’re all produced by the same team.
Measured building surveys
Millimetre-accurate floor plans, elevations, sections, roof plans and RCPs to the RICS 3rd edition, the as-existing drawing set your design starts on.
- Plans, elevations & sections
- GIA / NIA schedules
- From £1,000 +VAT
Scan-to-BIM Revit models
As-existing Revit built from the point cloud to agreed LOD, on your template with shared coordinates set, so Stage 3 starts inside an accurate model, not a guess.
- LOD 200–350 typical
- Your Revit template
- Phased for retrofit
Topographical surveys
Levels, contours, boundaries and services mapped to OS grid by drone LiDAR, total station and scanner, the site plan for feasibility, planning and drainage design.
- OS grid & datum
- From £1,000 +VAT
- Drone + ground methods
Planning & context capture
Scaled orthophoto elevations, streetscape context and photo-real 3D models that make planning submissions and design reviews land first time.
- Ortho elevations
- Streetscape context
- Web-shareable 3D
Roof & condition inspection
Close-up drone capture of roofs, façades and hard-to-see fabric before you commit a refurbishment design to it, evidence without scaffold.
- 4K roof & façade imagery
- Annotated reports
- From £395 +VAT
CAD production support
Overflow drawing production, PDF-to-CAD conversion and survey-to-sheet packages on your standards when the studio is at capacity.
- Your layers & title blocks
- Legacy drawing clean-up
- White-label available
Mapped to your plan of work
Feasibility & briefing. Before pen touches paper, a topographical survey establishes levels, boundaries and constraints, and a measured survey with GIA/NIA schedules confirms what the existing building actually offers. Early accuracy here is cheap; discovering the truth at Stage 4 is not.
Concept & developed design. The scan-to-BIM model becomes the container the design grows inside. Because every wall, slab and opening is placed from the point cloud, coordination decisions are made against reality, and the cloud itself is on hand to interrogate anything the model summarises.
Planning submissions. Existing and proposed elevations drawn from the same verified base, scaled orthophotos of the streetscape, and photo-real 3D context models give planners exactly what they need, and give objectors less to work with.
Technical design & tender. Sections cut anywhere from the archived cloud, floor flatness and plumb analysis where fit-outs and interfaces demand it, and area schedules that survive due diligence. Contractors price accurately when the base information is beyond argument.
Construction & handover. Drone capture verifies progress and roof condition without scaffold, and an as-built scan at completion records what was actually delivered, the record drawing set and model that facilities teams inherit.
The quiet advantage is the archive: because Norelo keeps your registered point cloud, late design changes, a new tenant, or a Stage 7 retrofit years later can all be served with new drawings and models, without another site visit or survey fee.
Why practices keep us on speed dial
Your standards, not ours
Drawings on your layers and title blocks, Revit on your template with your naming and shared coordinates, files that drop straight into the project.
Accuracy you can defend
Control networks, independent checkpoints and QA against the cloud, when a contractor queries a dimension, the evidence is a click away.
Programme-friendly
Fixed quotes usually within one working day, staged delivery for planning and tender deadlines, and a team small enough to actually call.
One accountable team
Capture, processing and CAD under one roof in Glasgow, no subcontracted mystery layer between your question and the answer.
The jobs we’re asked for most:
Good to know
What survey does my project need?
For work to an existing building: a measured building survey, with a Revit model where you design in BIM. For new-build, extensions and external works: a topographical survey of the site. Most projects need both, captured in one visit, and if you describe the project we’ll scope exactly what’s needed, no more.
What is the difference between a measured survey and scan-to-BIM?
Both start from the same laser scan. A measured survey delivers 2D drawings, plans, elevations, sections, while scan-to-BIM delivers an intelligent 3D Revit model of the existing building. Many practices take drawings first and add the model later, which the archived point cloud makes possible without a revisit.
Will you work to our Revit template and CAD standards?
Yes, by default. Your template, shared coordinates, naming, layers and title blocks, agreed at scoping so every file drops straight into your environment. Where you don’t have standards, we issue on clean, documented ones of ours.
How accurate are your surveys for design purposes?
Survey-grade: capture is controlled by GNSS and total station networks, verified against independent checkpoints, and drawings and models are QA-checked back against the point cloud before issue. Accuracy bands are agreed to the RICS 3rd edition, so the tolerance is documented, not assumed.
Can you produce existing and proposed planning drawings?
We produce the verified existing set, drawings and scaled orthophoto elevations, that your proposed drawings are built over. That division keeps the survey independent and the design yours, and it’s exactly what validation teams want to see.
We already have old drawings, why resurvey?
Because buildings and their drawings drift apart: extensions, strip-outs, undocumented alterations and optimistic original drawings are the norm, not the exception. A scan costs a fraction of the variations one wrong dimension causes on site, and it upgrades your archive permanently.
How quickly can you turn a survey around for a deadline?
Most single buildings are scanned in a day and drawn within one to three weeks, with staged issues, priority floors first, when a planning or tender date is fixed. Tell us the deadline in the enquiry and the programme comes back with the quote.