ELEVATION AND SECTION PLANS
Measured facade elevations, internal elevations and cross sections all provide a projection or ‘front on’ view to demonstrate heights of existing building features. These include floor or ground levels and their relationship to roof or ceiling levels. Tailored to reflect your asset’s requirements, we prepare accurate documentation to help you secure new tenants and assist design teams or contractors in understanding the potential of a space or building facade.
Elevation and section plans for redevelopment
Further to our As-Built or Existing Conditions floor plans, we provide Elevation and Section surveys and drawings. Drawings are delivered as a 2D plan and provide a ‘front on’ or ‘cut through’ view of a property or tenancy. These drawings, read in conjunction with a floor plan will provide a comprehensive understanding of how the building or tenancy sits in relation to its surrounds, providing essential information for the purpose of planning a property redevelopment or when marketing a tenancy for lease.
Both elevation and section drawings are measured and annotated to accurately display height information that is critical to the success of a project. External elevations, internal elevations and sections all assist designers, property managers, architects, fit out companies and engineers in making informed decisions that will ultimately lead to more cost and time efficient outcomes.
Even when a building is 3D laser scanned and modelled in Revit, Realserve delivers 2D PDF drawings for stakeholders to reference and work from.
What are elevations and sections?
- Elevations and sections are measured drawings that visually represent the front, side, or a cut section through a building.
- External elevations are 2D drawings of a facade that accurately show building features from one or each side. Building elevations include the location and heights of elements such as the external ground level & basic topography, roof lines, awnings, existing signage, doors, windows and roller shutters, the heights restrictive features such as fixed bollards, columns or fire hose reels, and where required, building finishes such as cladding, bricks or glazing.
- An internal elevation can provide a ‘front on’ view of a particular internal wall of interest. The drawing may detail fixed structures and services that cannot be removed such as columns, fire hydrants and emergency exit door locations & signage; or be used to calculate the area of a wall surface for cost estimations.
- Cut Sections can show the vertical relationships between building floor levels, detail a steel structure in a warehouse, or be used to demonstrate the relationship of heights between a retail tenancy and it’s surrounds.
Sections detail the architectural and structural elements of the subject including floor changes, the esiting ceiling, and everything in between. When accessible and required, Realserve can survey above ceiling structures and services including beams, trusses, A/C units, main fire pipes and the underside of the roof or floor above.
Subject to where the section is ‘cut’, it also shows internal or external wall thicknesses and heights in relation to the surrounds including the difference between internal & external ground levels.
Why do you need an elevation or a section drawing?
- Identify existing property building heights and elevation drawings in your council development application to fulfil council requirements.
- Showcase the possibility of an impressive storefront to prospective tenants with a retail tenancy elevation detailing the shop extents, heights of fixed bulkheads and locations of shopfront columns, A/C vents or emergency lighting.
- Identify external elevation features that may limit a design and cannot be removed or changed, such as awning heights, roller shutter locations and glazing sill & head heights.
- Estimate facade refurbishment costs with a clear understanding of the extents and areas of different building elevation features.
- Calculate the amount of cladding (in sqm) that you want or need to replace, with a cladding or building elevation area survey.
- Visualise opportunities for retail merchandising on internal retail tenancy walls.
- Assess safety egress by understanding the relationship between varied internal floor levels & finishes and the relationship with external ground levels to determine the need for ramps, stairs, hand rails, reflective strips etc.
- Determine whether there is enough height in your property for a lift with a cut section between ground and first floor levels.
Our typical process
We utilise the latest surveying technology to capture our data then produce our elevation and section plans. Using the latest CAD software programs everything is captured and processed accurately to start producing our elevation and section plans. The equipment we use is state of the art, ranging from traditional total stations to 3D laser scanning or RPA (drone). We only use the latest software tools including AutoCAD & Revit.
Once our plans are drafted they go through an intensive QA process via an independent audit to ensure that what we have captured is delivered to the highest levels of accuracy possible.
In summary;
- Initial consultation to ensure we can meet your needs.
- Agree on a scope of work.
- A site visit is organised with one of our qualified technicians with the necessary data collection equipment.
- All data is then processed via our team located in one of our offices around the Country.
- All plans or drawings are then independently reviewed via our QA process.
- All deliverables are then created for viewing in PDF, AutoCAD or Revit.
- We also have the ability to create a 3D scan or virtual tour of your property to create a fully interactive view of a site.
Elevation and Section sample plans
See some of our case studies
3D Building Scanning to upgrade supermarket loading docks
A national supermarket brand needed to upgrade their loading docks with multiple sites around Australia. See how we used 3D building scanning to help achieve this
Point cloud created by a surveyor for a national hotel refurbishment program
In today’s modern era, the practice of relying on paper-based drawings and floor plans for a hotel refurbishment has become obsolete, with architects increasingly turning to modern workflows to maximise on the benefits that 3D scanning and modelling can offer
3D scanning of shopping centre amenities in Noarlunga, SA
To assist with the planning of a refurbishment program aimed at enhancing visitors’ experience at a shopping centre, Realserve survey technicians provided 3D building scanning services in Adelaide’s south.
3D scanning of a free standing restaurant building in Adelaide
Realserve routinely engages in the practice of 3D scanning buildings that are used for retail tenancies. Our surveyors in Adelaide were engaged to produce a Revit Model and Point Cloud for a free standing restaurant in a shopping centre car park
Using 3D scanning to create a new retail tenancy plan in Sydney
The Realserve surveyors in Sydney were engaged by Lendlease to create new retail tenancy documentation in their shopping centre at Erina Fair. Instead of using traditional survey methods we used a Leica BLK to create a 3D scan of the 130 square metre area.
3D Revit Model of a heritage building in Launceston
Realserve sent a team of surveyors to Launceston to create a 3D Revit Model for a heritage building in the city to help facilitate a refurbishment program.