Lightrock power was in the process of designing multiple mid-sized solar farms across the UK in a bid to fuel the grid with greener energy. The team had 8 potential remote project areas, data sets held in disparate systems and no way to easily access real-world context.

Gaining approvals for solar farms is a key challenge faced in the solar industry. Subsequently, Lightrock Power partnered with Sensat to visualise all 8 proposed solar farm sites as digital site replicas. Layering designs, topographic CAD, and survey data in one common environment enabled teams to better understand the constraints, make faster design iterations, and improve decision certainty.

£36,000 saved per year by minimising site visits.

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Learn how Sensat helped Lightrock Power to

See information from different tools in one place

More confidently make the right decisions

Better understand and communicate project plans

Lightrock Power accelerates 8 solar farms’ development processes using Sensat


In March 2020, the Octavius team began building the new A46 flyover over the Binley junction near Coventry. As a critical junction, the Octavius team needed to keep traffic flowing through the area during the project. However, this also subjected teams to the risk of live highways which needed strict health and safety management.


From the get-go Octavius partnered with Sensat, leaning into Sensat’s enhanced data capture and visualisation technology, to help deliver the programme. Over 18 months, Sensat was fed remotely captured data to create a state-of-the-art 2D and 3D digital twin of the site. This helped the interdisciplinary project teams to visualise the intricate site and its changes throughout the construction stage.

Read the full Octavius case study

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How A46 Binley achieved better, faster, more data-driven decisions

Laing O’Rourke and J.Murphy and Sons Ltd (Laing Murphy Joint Venture or LM JV) have come together as a main contractor to deliver a dynamic enabling works programme for sectors N1 and N2 of HS2’s phase one infrastructure build across the West Midlands.

As part of its approach to transform the way infrastructure is built, LM JV worked with Sensat to visualise 80km of the HS2 route, creating a digital twin that allows teams to access all project information in one platform. This ensured everyone worked on the same, quality-assured project data to make assured decisions, without having to be on site.

Better understand the overall HS2 route and its potential constraints

Bringing together multiple disparate files and surveys

Removing manual site walkthroughs and surveys to save time, money and carbon waste to programme overhead.

Read the full Laing Murphy Joint Venture case study

LM JV transforms HS2 working practices with all project information in one platform

British Land, working with Amodal, needed to better understand the 53 acre site for their ambitious £4 billion project to redevelop Canada Water.

For the first time, British Land has been able to translate the complexity of this project, and all its building information and processes into a digital world in order to better understand the site during the planning stage.

Sensat’s digital twin provides a complete overview of past and present site data all in one place, where multiple teams and project stakeholders can easily visualise the entire site and its constraints.

In doing so, British Land has been able to expedite:

Read the full British Land case study

Sensat, British Land and Amodal create a “digital twin” to speed up planning of Canada Water Masterplan

Heathrow worked with Sensat to expedite data capture in an essential aviation project saving £20m.

To support Europe’s busiest airport, the Heathrow Airport team required a highly-accurate 3D digital model of the 29 km2 site. This was to facilitate the design process for a third runway, better engage with local communities, and reduce the need for engineers to be on site.


Utilising drones, Sensat safely captured the required data in just 16 days, with zero delays to the airport. Sensat’s drone solution meant the data could be collected quickly, without the need for land access approval, and without putting boots on the ground. This saved an estimated 100,000 worker-hours and £20m in project costs which was as much as 40x cheaper than a traditional ground-based survey.

Read the full Heathrow case study

Find out how Heathrow saved £20 million on the design process for its third runway, with zero delays to the airport

To support National Grid in completing a design feasibility study for a new power cable route during lockdown, Sensat undertook a remote drone data capture survey of the land adjacent to Didcot Power Station.

With concerns project development could be delayed due to limited land access during the pandemic, National Grid’s project team not only needed an alternative survey method but also a way to visualise 3D data easily and quickly at home.


Sensat offered its cloud-based, visualisation platform for free to those in the AEC industry as part of its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Through this initiative users from National Grid, and consultants at Jacobs, used Sensat’s visualisation platform as a way to access accurate, up-to-date 3D data remotely from any device via a web-based application.

Read the full National Grid case study

National Grid is keeping workers safe during the pandemic with visualised 3D power station data easily accessible from home

Connect Plus, the company awarded the contract to operate and manage the M25 and its key arterial routes on behalf of Highways England, worked with partners Connect Plus Services (CPS), Osborne and Sensat to digitally map the road network. From this, a single source of data has been built which all M25 suppliers can access within one visualisation platform, creating a ‘digital 3D M25’.

Hailed as the largest drone mapping endeavour in the UK, the project
covers 120 miles of highway, consists of over 23 billion data points and 85,000 high-resolution images, captured and delivered in 30 days.

Fixed-wing drones were used to remotely capture topographic data safely and efficiently, producing highly-accurate, geo-referenced 2D and 3D outputs. With permission from the Civil Aviation Authority to fly drones within built-up areas, combined with EVLOS (extended visual line of sight) exemption, Sensat were able to eliminate the need for traffic management and lane closures across the M25.

Aggregated in Sensat’s visualisation platform, the processed 3D point cloud and 2D orthomosaic data will be used to create the first digital twin of the M25. Today, a virtual 3D model has been shared with Connect Plus, Connect Plus Services and its framework contractors, acting as a key source of information of the entire motorway. Visualising data in this way will support the team in planning and decision-making processes across renewal and maintenance projects.

Read the full Connect Plus case study

How Connect Plus and Osborne digitally mapped the UK’s busiest motorway, avoiding road closures and disruption to the public

Network Rail’s ‘Access for All’ programme aims to provide an obstacle-free, accessible route to and between platforms at stations across the country that were not originally designed with people with reduced mobility in mind— making it safer for everyone who visits these. As part of the scheme, Sensat along with partner Osborne, were commissioned to conduct a topographical survey of four stations. The data, which was made accessible on Sensat’s visualisation platform, serves as a single source of truth (SSOT) and a powerful tool for stakeholder engagement when making decisions on station development.

Sensat safely captured the required data in just two days. In Sensat’s visualisation platform, it’s possible to get access to all above and below ground data and information, including: geospatial and topographic site information, buried services and below-ground utilities, masterplan models and BIM integration, residential structures, and all engineering design information for the associated infrastructure.

Read the full Osborne case study

Network Rail and Osborne ramp up work to make stations more accessible by capturing site data remotely

Sensat’s data hosted in their visualisation platform will allow us to create a single source of truth over the next period of time to help us assure the project’s programme when we begin again.
- Jim Bushell, Survey and Monitoring Manager, MSVF

Sensat, on behalf of Morgan Sindall Volker Fitzpatrick JV (MSVF), have been utilising drones to carry out fortnightly site surveys on the Barking Riverside project. The digital model needs to be supplemented with regular progress monitoring and up to date topographical information for assessing earthworks.

The data has been served to the whole project via Sensat’s software and has been enabling them to take more accurate and regular earthworks quantities (reducing risk and improving cash flow). They have also been using the data to enhance communication both internally with the project teams and externally with their client Transport for London (TfL). They now have 170 users accessing up to date site information remotely, via a browser-based platform.


Read the full Morgan Sindall Volker Fitzpatrick JV case study

Morgan Sindall Volker Fitzpatrick JV utilised digital site replica during lockdown, keeping the Barking Riverside Overground Extension project running

A high definition digital twin of the multi-million pound Milton Keynes East development was required to support Berkeley Group in submitting a successful planning application

Read the full Berkeley Group case study

Sensat successfully digitised the entire development area while delivering the highest detail model of the site ever created. It also provided engineering firm WSP with the technical information required to design strategic infrastructure, thus helping Berkeley Group work towards securing planning permission.

Sensat’s use of UAVs allowed safe, fast and accurate data capture, while eliminating the need for constant landowner engagement.

Sensat’s cloud-based platform allowed the client to discuss and manage the project in a virtual and intuitive way, which is also easily shareable to various sources, and offers the avenue to engage all the stakeholders involved.

Case Studies

Lightrock Power accelerates 8 solar farms’ development processes using Sensat

How A46 Binley achieved better, faster, more data-driven decisions

LM JV transforms HS2 working practices with all project information in one platform

Sensat, British Land and Amodal create a “digital twin” to speed up planning of Canada Water Masterplan

Find out how Heathrow saved £20 million on the design process for its third runway, with zero delays to the airport

National Grid is keeping workers safe during the pandemic with visualised 3D power station data easily accessible from home

How Connect Plus and Osborne digitally mapped the UK’s busiest motorway, avoiding road closures and disruption to the public

Network Rail and Osborne ramp up work to make stations more accessible by capturing site data remotely

Morgan Sindall Volker Fitzpatrick JV utilised digital site replica during lockdown, keeping the Barking Riverside Overground Extension project running

Berkeley Homes and WSP expedited their planning application process, avoiding 6 months of land access agreements

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