Services

Land / Topographical Surveys
At PDS we realise that every site is different and strive to meet each clients individual needs for the specific sites.
By understanding each client's requirements we can give a free competitive quote and a guarantee our timescales for providing our finished data.
Typically included details: -
Line and level surveys related to OSBM, to either national grid or to a local coordinate grid.
Ground surfaces defined and annotated with features including walls, fences, kerbs, verges surveyed with heights and descriptions.
Services measured with drainage inverts/ pipe diameters annotated. We also carry out drainage tracing to establish water flows etc.
Overhead site information such as Power Lines and Telegraph lines with heights provided.
Off site information on overlooking properties such as ridge, eaves and window heights.
All surveys will provide a network of control stations in order to extend the survey or to allow for site engineering to be carried out.
Measured Building Surveys
At PDS we take great pride in our ability to produce high detailed and extremely accurate building surveys. There are three main areas that we specialise in which are:
Floor Plans
We use the latest technology in order to produce floor plans that can be as detailed as the client requires. We have standard details, which can be added to as each building / client will vary between each project.
Elevations
Using high quality reflectorless theodolites we can make difficult to reach elevations relatively easy. By using the in built lasers we can measure buildings up to 100m away. Again like with the floor plans we can change our spec to suit each building/ clients needs. The main details we measure are doors, windows and stonework etc.
Sections
We also produce building sections using information from our topographical, internal and elevation surveys. This then gives a good view of the buildings internal spaces and floor widths etc.

We have carried out many building surveys on varying sites ranging from castles and palaces to barns for conversion. Our surveying equipment and expertise helps us provide plans for irregular shaped old and new buildings with an excellent degree of accuracy.
Site Engineering
At PDS we carry out all manner of engineering on both sites that we have done the original surveys for and also that are new to ourselves. In our experience the better the original base topographical survey the easier the site engineering will be from start to finish of the project.
Typical engineering tasks undertaken: -
Roads & drainage positions and profiles.
Plot positions and floor levels.
Steel positions for industrial units.
Piling positions.
Asbuilt surveys to ensure the sites meet the approved planning drawings.
Setting Out Services
Premier Design Surveys offer a reliable setting out service for any size of project. Once a site layout design has been established, PDS understands the importance of setting out to the highest degree of accuracy. Our survey teams can set out from digitally supplied data or from hard copy plans.
Our highly experienced surveyors can set-out points on site as required, using engineers’ drawings and design co-ordinates. We undertake a complete array of site engineering duties that many clients require for construction projects on sites of all sizes.
We work closely with our clients, providing a flexible and reliable service, to set-out further phases of the works as and when required. Services can vary from a simple setting-out of control points for the resident site engineers, to a complete setting-out service of all points across a whole development.
Building & Site Monitoring
We have carried out various monitoring projects on buildings from terraced houses to large castles through out the UK. These surveys enable us to see how much buildings are moving and with a building engineers report can determine what action must be taken to prevent any long lasting damage.
The two typical site monitoring surveys that we regularly do at PDS involve either erosion to site boundaries or ensuring accurate amounts of cut or fill to sites.
Examples:
We have monitored field boundaries on farms along the east coast in order to record area and the rate of which the sea is reclaiming the land.
Surveys of land fill sites to ensure amounts of materials deposited and predicted remaining life span of the site.
Volume calculations.
Pre and Post topographical surveys to ensure the approved level change for contaminated/ mineral sites and quarries.
Laser Scanning
At PDS we have recently invested in a new, state of the art laser scanner to assist with our work. This has assisted us in the undertaking of large projects such as elevations of large buildings such as churches, office blocks, stately homes and other complex buildings which previously would have been much more difficult using the conventional methods of measuring elevations.
Through the use of the laser scanner for these projects we have found many advantages over our previous methods, these include:
A higher level of accuracy and a much higher output of data (the scanner we use can measure over 20,000 points a second!)
Less time spent on site, however due to the huge pointclouds generated from the scanner more office time is required to deal with the huge amounts of data
Ability to measure extremely detailed building features to a very high accuracy. Some of which are so intricate that we simply would not have been able to measure accuractely using conventional methods.
A more accurate and impressive end result as the data can be seen and processed as a complete 3D model