PCL signs deal with drone firm 3DR in push to make use of flyers on more job sites

TORONTO—PCL job sites worldwide are poised to have more buzzing drones flying overhead as a result of a new corporate licensing agreement the contractor has signed with software firm 3DR.

The builder said July 17 it’s signed a three-year partnership deal with the U.S.-based company, which has developed a software platform called Site Scan capable of planning drone flight paths and turning photos taken during flyovers into precise maps and 3D models of construction sites.

PCL has already tested the software platform out on 30 projects across North America and the new licensing deal will allow it to standardize the system, rolling it out across its Canadian, U.S. and global projects.

“Site Scan has changed the way teams communicate on the jobsite,” Deron Brown, president and COO of PCL’s U.S. operations, said in a release. “Using this straightforward tool has improved our on-site documentation of existing conditions, work in place, and as-builts. Site Scan’s workflows are efficient and produce repeatable results that easily integrate into our existing software and systems.”

As part of the new partnership both companies say they are committed to finding new ways to collect and make better use the of the job site data.