ELECTRONIC wizardry has replaced pen and paper for Warrnambool City Council’s onerous task of auditing all its 270 buildings to update maintenance requirements.
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Armed with an iPad fitted with sophisticated software, operators inspect and photograph features right down to the carpet then enter details to calculate the priority and estimated repair bill.
“It’s sophisticated, but simple,” council infrastructure services manager Glenn Reddick said.
“This technology allows us to gather much more information than ever before and prioritise the maintenance budget.
“Consultants are doing the field work and our team is doing the analysis.
“Every aspect is considered and the program rates the condition from one to five and how much money is likely to be needed to get it back to perfect condition.
“It helps us keep our buildings in good order.”
The buildings audit is done every five years.
Specialist contractors have also been engaged to audit the condition of the 330 kilometres of roads, footpaths, kerbing and road reserves using powerful high-definition movie cameras.
The footage will be used to determine pavement condition for repair or replacement.
These inspections to be done during January have the potential to replace manual site inspections by council staff.