Before major construction begins, the condition of the streets, neighbouring buildings and existing structures around a development site can become just as important as the site itself. Kybos was engaged to create a large pre-works 3D dilapidation record around a development site at 100 Leichhardt Street in Spring Hill, Brisbane, where an existing heritage facade was to be retained as part of the project.
The capture covered more than 4,000 m² and was designed to preserve a dated visual and spatial baseline before construction activity changed the surrounding environment. For the developer, the value was not simply having more photographs. It was having one connected record that could be navigated later and understood in the context of the whole site.
Project requirement
The development involved works around an established inner-city streetscape and a retained heritage element. That created a clear need to document visible pre-existing conditions before demolition, excavation and construction progressed.
Traditional dilapidation photography is useful for recording individual surfaces, cracks and defects, but large sites can quickly generate hundreds of disconnected images. A 3D capture adds spatial context. Instead of asking where a particular photograph was taken, the project team can navigate back through the captured environment and understand the location of a visible condition relative to the street, adjoining structures and development boundary.
What Kybos captured
More than 4,000 m² of surrounding site and streetscape conditions
Street frontage and road surfaces around the development
Footpaths, kerbs and other public-facing areas
Visible external conditions of adjoining buildings
Areas immediately surrounding the retained heritage facade
A connected 3D walkthrough providing spatial context between captured areas
Why the scale of the capture mattered
On a project of this size, documenting only the immediate building frontage would have left gaps in the pre-works record. Construction activity can affect access routes, public areas and neighbouring interfaces well beyond the centre of the site. Capturing the wider area created a more complete reference of what was visible before those conditions changed.
The resulting model allows the commissioning party to revisit the area remotely and compare later observations with a dated pre-construction baseline. This can help make later discussions clearer because the surrounding context is preserved rather than reduced to isolated photographs.
A practical project record, not a structural assessment
The capture is visual in nature and records only conditions that were visible and accessible at the time of capture. It is not a structural, engineering, geotechnical or certified defect assessment. Where a formal condition opinion is required, the 3D record can instead support the work of the appropriately qualified consultant by giving them a clear visual and spatial reference.
Outcome
The developer now has a detailed pre-works record of the surrounding streetscape and adjoining structures before major construction activity. The project also demonstrates how 3D dilapidation capture can be scaled beyond a single facade or neighbouring property when the development context requires broader documentation.
For Kybos, this type of project sits between simple photographic documentation and a formal engineering assessment: the objective is to create a clear, dated and navigable record that remains useful after the physical site has changed.
Discuss a dilapidation capture
