Jeremy Pelletier
Innovation Team Lead, Pomerleau
Adopting drone technology on its construction sites allows Canadian construction company Pomerleau to stay competitive and ahead of the curve.
The construction industry is changing rapidly to accommodate a growing number of major and complex projects. Investing in innovation has become a necessity for productivity and the reduction of costs. Over the years, Pomerleau has become a partner from design to construction, financing, operations, maintenance, and deconstruction.
Today, more and more highly complex projects are integrating technological elements — Pomerleau’s speciality. Over 75 per cent of the company’s projects integrate an innovative idea or cutting-edge technology, enabling the contractor to build better, faster, and more responsibly for its clients, partners, and communities.
The power of data intelligence
With 130 people involved in innovation at Pomerleau, the company is striving to optimize its work through data intelligence powered by building information modelling (BIM), virtual design and construction (VDC), drones, and 4D modelling and to reduce the environmental impacts of projects. As demand increases for new data capture technologies, such as drones, robots, and Internet of Things sensors, their prices are falling, making them more accessible.
Jeremy Pelletier, Innovation Team Lead at Pomerleau, is helping build the drone
program. The company currently has a dozen drones in its fleet ranging in size and speciality, and 15 to 20 pilots trained. Since the start of the drone program, the demand for the technology to be used on sites has increased by more than 400 per cent. Tailoring
its drone program by staying up to date on training and new technology has allowed Pomerleau’s fleet to remain competitive.
Enabling project success
Drones provide added value on projects and have multiple uses. They’re used for photography, inspections, surveying, and capturing accurate data. Accurate and timely photography is a component of the construction process, providing valuable insights and documentation for planning, monitoring of the advancement of a project, analysis, and decision-making.
Four years ago, we only had two drones that we could use for recurring flights on-site. Now, we’re completing around 100 flights a year and we aren’t slowing down.
Safety is a top priority for Pomerleau. Preventing hazardous scenarios can be made possible using drones. Drones can be flown into traditionally unsafe zones like the sides of bridges, eliminating the need for workers to climb scaffolding. They can also improve time efficiency by assisting technicians in capturing multiple images quickly.
Pomerleau’s team also leverages the power of geographic information system (GIS) to upload the drone-captured images and feed the 3D scene of a project in its environment. Drone capture combined with GIS allows the project team to provide real-time updates and comprehensive data analysis, enabling the team to make more informed decisions and to achieve higher levels of project success.
Leading the way forward
“Four years ago, we only had two drones that we could use for recurring flights on-site. Now, we’re completing around 100 flights a year and we aren’t slowing down. We’re continuing to expand our fleet and remain ahead of demands. We’ll see our drones on a lot of our sites in the coming future,” says Pelletier.
Pomerleau’s investment in drone technology and its in-house pilots set the company apart as a leader in the construction industry. The company’s use of drone technology is revolutionizing construction by providing a safer, faster, and more cost-effective approach to data capture.
To learn more about how Pomerleau is changing the construction industry, visit pomerleau.ca.
