Case · Church & Cultural Heritage

Saved 7 million DKK while fireproofing cultural heritage in a single visit

A traditional inspection would point to a new roof costing 7.76M DKK. The drones showed the roof is 63% in good condition and can be maintained for 24,500 DKK/year. On top of that, the parish council got a 3D model of the entire church — inside and out — as a Fire Safety Documentation Archive.

  • Church
  • Damage check
  • 3D fire-safety archive
  • Roof condition 63%

Headline numbers

7.0M DKK

Saving over 30 years

Maintenance vs. a new roof

63%

Roof condition

Intact — not in disrepair

−94%

CO₂ load

Maintenance instead of a new roof

3D

Heritage archive

Interior + exterior

Two deliverables, one drone visit

Deliverable 1

Roof — Damage report

51-page interactive report with 4 roof surfaces, K0–K3 damage classification and a phased 30-year plan. The parish council knows exactly what to do over the next 5 years.

Deliverable 2

Cultural heritage — 3D model of the church

A photogrammetric digital twin — roof, tower, altar, pulpit, organ, frescoes. If the church burns, it can be rebuilt 1:1. This is the Notre-Dame case.

The simple story — two deliverables, one drone visit

Høje Taastrup Church has a roof with enough damage that a consulting engineer doing a traditional inspection would quickly point to a full replacement — 7.76M DKK over 30 years.

The drones showed something different. The roof is 63% in good condition. The damage is measurable, spread across 4 roof surfaces, and can be repaired in three phases. The total maintenance cost over 30 years is 735,000 DKK — i.e. 24,500 DKK/year.

“It’s not a luxury investment. It’s responsible cultural-heritage management.”

A parish council that knows what to do over the next 5 years — and that has documented the cultural heritage in case the worst happens. Both delivered in a single drone visit. Services, baptisms and funerals carry on undisturbed while the drone flies.

The numbers — Damage report, 30-year reference

7.76M DKK for a new roof — or 0.74M DKK in maintenance.

The central financial point: the damage follows classic ageing patterns for a Danish church tile roof — predictable and manageable by a competent roofer. There’s no need to build a new roof to remove it.

7.0M DKK

Possible saving (91%) in the parish council’s funds — 24,500 DKK/year instead of a 7.76M DKK roof project all at once.

7.76M DKKEstimated new roof over 30 years
0.74M DKKEstimated maintenance over 30 years

Calculated with 5% annual interest and a 30-year reference period per EN 15978, excluding engineering hours and design. The figures are DroneTjek’s own estimates from the damage report — not recalculated via AssetEye for this specific church.

Phased repair — budget on three levels, not one big hit

The phased split matches a realistic backlog horizon. The parish council can allocate acute liquidity, medium-term operating expense and a long-term maintenance pool separately.

Phase 1 · 6–12 months

Immediate actions

Stop water intrusion

  • Replace cracked, loosened and chipped roof tiles
  • Seal and repair defective flashings
  • Clean gutters and valley gutters of blockages

Phase 2 · 1–3 years

Strategic maintenance

Planned, not immediate

  • Repair the boarding/battens at the roof ridge
  • Renew joints and damaged mortar
  • Repair chimney and gable

Phase 3 · 3–5 years

Follow-up actions

Maintain roof operations

  • Follow up on work from Phases 1+2
  • Surface-treat wooden parts
  • Periodic inspections and adjustment

Get Started

Want the same basis for your church?

Let us fly over your church. One flight gives you both a roof maintenance plan and a 3D fire-safety documentation — without disrupting services.

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