Reality Capture in Brisbane: Heritage Basements, Character Commercial Buildings and Occupied Sites

Works to a heritage building remove original fabric for good. A vault is opened up, a wall comes out, a basement is tanked, and what was there is gone. That's why heritage approvals so often ask for a record of the fabric first, and why the record has to be made before anyone starts work.

Reality capture in Brisbane makes that record fast, including in the places that are hardest to measure: dark basements, old masonry and buildings that are still full of tenants. This brief is for heritage architects, commercial builders and building owners planning adaptive reuse, basement waterproofing or services upgrades in the CBD, Fortitude Valley and the inner suburbs.

What reality capture records in an old building

A LiDAR scanner measures the space around it as millions of points and photographs it at the same time. Scans from many positions are lined up into one point cloud: a measured 3D record of the walls, vaults, columns, floors and services as they are on the day, with a hosted 3D walkthrough anyone on the project can open.

From that one capture come the outputs heritage work needs: measured drawings drafted from the point cloud (Scan-to-CAD), an existing-conditions model for the design team, and a dated condition baseline. In reality capture for construction, it's an architectural-grade reference for design and documentation, not a survey. Where position is set out against boundaries or controlled levels, a registered surveyor still fixes it.

Basement conditions: low light, uneven masonry and old services

Old basements are where hand measuring struggles most:

• Low light. The laser measures in the dark, but the photography needs light, so basements are captured with temporary lighting where there isn't enough.
• Uneven masonry. Brick vaults, rubble walls and out-of-plumb piers don't have straight lines to measure between. The point cloud records the surfaces as they are, so drawings and models start from the real shape.
• Column grids. The grid on the old drawings and the grid on site rarely agree. The capture records where each column actually is, before new structure is designed around it.
• Old services. Abandoned pipes, conduits and ducts run through vaults and piers. Recording them before strip-out shows what's live, what's redundant and where penetrations already are.
• Damp. Tide marks, efflorescence and spalled brick are recorded as they are before basement waterproofing starts, so the before-and-after is clear.

Switch between the point cloud, the measured drawing and the condition baseline on the section below.

Heritage approvals and the archival record

Under the Queensland Heritage Act 1992, approvals for work on a place in the Queensland Heritage Register often include a condition requiring an archival record where significant fabric will be lost, such as in full or partial demolition. The Queensland guideline, Archival recording of heritage places, sets out what that record contains: measured drawings and photographs, the sheet sizes and scales for the drawings, and how the finished record is lodged with the State Library of Queensland.

The guideline doesn't mention 3D scanning, but it does note that drawings are commonly produced in CAD. That's where reality capture helps: the building is captured once, and the plans, sections and elevations are drafted from the point cloud, which is usually the fastest way to produce measured drawings of complex fabric.

Two things to settle before any recording starts:

• Agree the method. The guideline asks for a written scope of work, including the recording methods, to be approved by the officer managing the approval before recording begins. Put the 3D capture and Scan-to-CAD drawings in that scope.
• Check the guideline is current. The current version dates from 2013. Confirm with the officer that it still applies, and which formats they want for lodgement.

The guideline also sets its own standard for archival photographs, so plan those alongside the capture rather than relying on the scan's imagery. Local heritage places in Brisbane are regulated by Council under City Plan, so ask Council what record, if any, it needs.

Excavation next door: record the neighbours first

Inner-city sites are tight, and a new basement dug next to an old building puts the old building at risk. Before excavation, piling or demolition starts, record the condition of the buildings next door, inside and out, so there's a dated baseline if cracks appear later. Our guide to the Pre-Construction Condition Survey covers what to capture and when.

Occupied buildings: capture windows around tenants

Most character commercial buildings are still trading when the work is planned. Capture can run after hours or on weekends, floor by floor or tenancy by tenancy, so nobody has to close. Access to basements, plant rooms and roof spaces is agreed with the building manager first, and public areas are captured outside trading hours.

Nearby service areas: Ipswich reactive clay · Moreton Bay new builds · Logan new estates · every service area

Reality capture in Brisbane: FAQs