Site/Project :

Hillsborough Castle,

Co Down

Industry:

Registered Charity

Client :

Historic Royal Palaces

Locat ion:

Hillsborough village

Site Type:

18th

century country house

estate and Royal residence

Deliverables:

3D Laser Scan survey

internal and external

building survey

2D MBS Floor Plan surveys

2-D output drawings

Benef i ts:

Cost Effective

Quick turnaround

Non contact – remote

survey

Unparalleled accuracy and

detail

Detailed CAD output

Added Value:

Detailed digital archive with

potential to supply

additional measured

building information at a

future date

Introduction Measured Building Survey

Hillsborough Castle holds a rich and varied

history. Since its construction in the 1770’s,

the building has gone from being a residence

for the first Marquis of Downshire to

Government House in the 1920’s to becoming

the official royal residence in Northern Ireland

and an important meeting place during the

peace process.

In 2014 management of the building and its

estate was taken over by Historic Royal

Palaces, a charity which manages many of

the other royal estates such as London Tower

and Hampton Court Palace. As part of the

management plan for Hillsborough Castle

Estate and to assist with the development of

and opening up of the site to the public in

2015, FarrimondMacManus Ltd were

commissioned to provide detailed topographic

and building surveys of the main castle

building itself as well as the adjoining stable

yard buildings and outhouses.

The measured building survey consisted of a 3D

laser scan survey of the external building

elevations and footprint of the main castle

building, adjacent stable yard and outbuildings.

Internal laser scan surveys were carried out for

the entire stable yard building for the purposes of

supplying accurate floor plans, detailed room

elevations and reflected ceilings. A selection of

rooms which were to be opened to the public

within the main castle building also underwent

internal laser scan survey.

The external laser scan survey was also used to

provide a basis for a detailed floor plan survey

using MBS Floor Plan software for the remainder

of the main castle building.

The laser scan survey was carried out over a

period of five days with onsite control provided

through GPS and total station survey related to

Irish Grid. The MBS Floor plan survey of the 90

room castle and basements and adjoining

apartments was carried out over a period of 2

weeks.

I S S U E

08 FarrimondMacManus Ltd ARCHAEOLOGY − SURVEY − GIS

This issue Measured Building Survey as

an aid to Building Management

CAD Analysis & Output

A total of 180 individual 3D point cloud

scans were stitched together and

registered to form a completed model

of the survey area. The fully

registered point cloud was imported

into CAD software for interrogation

and visualization analysis.

A combination of on-site GPS and

total station survey was used to relate

the laser scan data to Irish Grid

Appl icat ions:

Invaluable aid to building

management and restoration

Complete measured archive

LIGHT

SWITCH

LIGHT ING

LIGHT ING

Detail for individual room elevation including fixtures and fittings

Castle building elevation and section elevations

Drawing Room floor plan, elevations and reflected ceilings

Due to security restrictions within the

main castle building, survey specific MBS

Floorplan™ software and a laser disto

were used to produce the floor plans

within this area of the survey. The

external scan data was used to produce

an accurate building footprint and window

reveals from which to measure the floor

plans. MBS software allows the

surveyor to draw up the floor plan as the

internal footprint of the building is

measured and includes standard

annotations for building features, fixtures

and fittings reducing the time required for

post processing and drawing production.

Fully registered point cloud scan of Hillsborough Castle

The point cloud data was further sliced up along its X & Y Axis in order to derive an accurate

footprint of the buildings and produce scale 2D elevation, floor plans and reflected ceiling drawings

at Architectural level of detail.

The final MBS surveyed floor plan drawings were made available to the client within 1 week of

completion of the onsite survey.

A total of 23 detailed external

elevation drawings and 40

internal room plan, elevation

and reflected ceiling

drawings, and detailed floor

plans were produced from

the scan data.

Detailed line drawings of architectural door header in main

Castle building