"We can identify and tag every visible defect, and know exactly where it is."
For decades, Infracorr Consulting has been one of Australia’s most trusted experts in complex concrete repairs. They adopted Trendspek for increased asset coverage and to transform durability solutions for large concrete structures.
In 2020, Infracorr’s Managing Director, Ian Godson discovered Trendspek and introduced it to his industry, seeing its "potential to revolutionise our work".
Their first project—a concrete water tower—led to its adoption for larger and more complex structures including chimney stacks, silos, dams, industrial structures and buildings.
“We’ve always embraced innovation. Traditionally, we used booms and rope access to inspect structures, gradually integrating drones for better visuals in hard-to-reach areas."
"The Trendspek team assisted to load our drone capture into the model and trained our staff to complete the defect tagging and full use of the system. We were very impressed, and continued to capture larger and more complex structures."
With Trendspek, they could capture large structures via aerial drone surveys and transform the data into detailed 3D models, allowing them to inspect and document every visible defect on-screen. This led to a transformative shift.
"We are effectively using the Trendspek system to manage the repair process and maintenance process – it’s far more efficient than ever before."
"In the investigation of very large structures that have started to deteriorate, or have difficult-to-reach areas, we need to document all visible defects and physically investigate and test to confirm the cause."
"The time and cost to access and test is very high, so we commonly take representative samples from a small proportion of the structure and use that to estimate the overall repair requirement. Photographs from the ground level or drone video help to estimate the repair quantities but still these estimates were approximate at best."
"With the Trendspek model, with all the defects marked and tagged, we can focus our further investigation of the structure to specific defects, allowing far reduced levels of testing from traditional access method."
“With Trendspek, we can now identity and tag every visible defect and know exactly where it is. We can measure it – know how long it is, how big it is. It is a game-changer."
vs. manual capture of up to 12 weeks
vs. 10-20% via representative inspection
vs. 50 with legacy methods
vs. static images in 2D reports
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One of Infracorr’s key projects involved inspecting Glebe Island Silos, a landmark structure in the Sydney CBD skyline. Visible to anyone driving towards Victoria Road in Sydney, the towering silos presented inspection challenges due to their height and complexity.
Infracorr used Trendspek to import drone capture data from 2019, and conducted a new drone capture in early 2022, enabling them to directly compare structural condition on-screen.
"For cracks in the concrete, we can trace them, mark their length, locations, note if they have been repaired before or not – everything we need to fully document the defects. Any other defects such as coating defects, spalling concrete or corrosion staining can be tagged with their size determined accurately."
"We can export that information into an excel, PDF or other format, or share interactive reports and annotations directly via the Trendspek model."
"This lets us share the model with contractors, so they can accurately price everything as they know exactly where defects are and their size."
"Unfortunately, the industry is known for repair estimates that can be quite inaccurate, which can result in blowouts of repair quantities with significant increase in costs and time. Infracorr’s specialists pride themselves on the accuracy of their investigations and repair estimates."
"With Trendspek, our level of accuracy improves even more, and we can help our clients plan budgets more accurately, and the repair contractors quote more precisely."
“There’s just no comparison – you just wouldn’t tag defects to 100% of the buildings without Trendspek, it would take too long and cost too much.”
Before Trendspek, inspections of large and complex structures took significant planning, time and costs.
Now, data capture can take as little as a day, with 3D models providing full exterior context on-screen.
This allows Infracorr's engineers more time to analyse results, and target further investigations where most needed from their desks.
“In the past we would not have ever closely surveyed 100% of structures like the silos, due to the time and cost of inspections from ropes or access booms."
"With Trendspek, we get the drone capture in a couple of days, with the complete tagging of defects done on our computer screens in a few weeks. Using the marked-up model, we investigate in detail selected defects using traditional access and our skilled engineers."
"It’s not just a matter of being able to see details that we were never able to see before, it’s also capturing structures you just wouldn’t have tried to access fully due to the cost and time to do so."
“On average it’s around 10-20% of the cost of traditional investigations – that includes full capture of the buildings, the Trendspek 3D model, and the platform to analyse, mark up, annotate, and our work to investigate, assess and report."
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“On average it’s around 10-20% of the cost of traditional investigations – that includes full capture, the 3D model, the platform and our work to investigate, assess and report."
As one of Trendspek’s key partners, Infracorr is now exploring new opportunities across different industries.
One standout collaboration includes partnering with Trendspek and the University of Sydney to capture and mark up more than 100 of their buildings.
"It’s difficult to even imagine doing these inspections the traditional way. Now, if they want to look in detail at building 37, they simply zoom on in immediately and they can see all the details of visible defects or dimensions, as opposed to sifting through files, reports and photos."
Looking ahead, Infracorr and Trendspek are poised to continue pushing boundaries.
“With Trendspek we can see things we never could before, that we would have spent months getting to, and we can control the repair process and cost far more efficiently, benefiting our clients with an enhanced service."
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