We are delighted to welcome Emily to the DronePrep team today where she will be working closely with Claire Owen and Gareth Whatmore on growing the DronePrep Airspace Growth Programme.
Emily has recently graduated from University of Worcestershire with flying colours (a 1st!!!) where she has undertaken a number of pioneering projects with the University of Worcestershire Geography Department in the West Midlands, Wales in the Swiss Alps.
Emily’s academic work has seen her work alongside University Project Partners including local Farmers and the Environmental Agency whilst her vocational work has seen her cut her teeth with companies such as Hanson and Geodime.
Emily has a passion for Drone Flying and the Future of the Drone Industry and has tracked DronePrep’s journey for over a year.
On Emily joining, Gareth Whatmore CEO and Co-Founder of DronePrep said:
We are exceedingly lucky to have attracted such a superb Graduate from the University of Worcestershire, with experience and appetite for the growing drone sector, to join us at our new company headquarters at Malvern Hill Science Park. We can’t wait to work with Emily to grow our company mission to open up low-level Airspace for Responsible Drone Use.
When asked about her new role at DronePrep Emily said:
I’m extremely excited to be kick starting my career in UAV’s with DronePrep which has already made some amazing breakthroughs. This opportunity presents a new perspective of the drone industry for myself, I couldn’t be happier to have Claire and Gareth guiding me through. I look forward to the future, learning and growing alongside DronePrep and seeing where the Company takes me!
Preparations are underway to supplement the existing NHS medical supply chains between Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly which could be vulnerable to disruption in the event of a second wave of COVID19.
A consortia led by DronePrep has successfully been awarded €200,000 via the Government’s Emergency CV19 Future Flight Fund to fast-track plans to establish a UAV/Drone Emergency Medical Airbridge and consult with landowners about using low-level airspace in Cornwall for emergency drone use.
The Cornish project will run for four months and pave the way for establishing future Drone Corridors, Medical Airbridge capabilities and goods transfer in low-level airspace via Drone in Cornwall. Early during Lockdown, the Transport Secretary (Grant Shapps) instructed the same team to conduct the first-ever Medical Drone deliveries to assist the NHS between Lee-on-Solent and the Isle of Wight https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NRH7aiULmHc
Now members of the same consortia including DronePrep, Windracers and Consortiq are running a project in Cornwall and the Isles of Scilly. The team includes drone, logistics, transport planning and medical experts.
Claire Owen, Co-Founder of DronePrep comments
“Commencing in September, our team will be engaging with Cornish landowners on both the mainland and the Isles of Scilly to help define future flight plans. We are absolutely delighted to be leading the project which could lay the foundations for similar emergency services to other remote locations.”
Gareth Whatmore, Co-Founder of DronePrep said
“If remote areas of Cornwall are affected by a second wave of CV19 it will be important that we have commenced the necessary consultation with landowners and regulators to prepare for flexible drone deliveries to support the NHS.
“The feedback from the public and ground stakeholders on this pioneering project will help us achieve this new service for the people of Cornwall and will help the industry develop more understanding of how to integrate essential emergency Drone services elsewhere in the UK. We are thrilled that the government have supported this project to help maintain the flow of NHS supplies to the Isles of Scilly”
During an inspiring Royal Aeronautical Society event in February 2020 which covered the amazing exploits of Richard Browning (Gravity), Nick Dyson, Francis Holland School’s Director of Creative Enterprise and DronePrep’s Gareth Whatmore hatched a plan over coffee aimed at inspiring the schools students. The goal: to demonstrate how we could use Landowner consents to open up the largest ever low-level airspace envelope over Central London.
A few weeks later in the midst of lockdown, a brief was agreed to realise this plan. We knew this project could raise spirits, help galvanise the students who were working remotely and to achieve London first which the School could be proud of.
Taken by DronePrep Pilot-in-Residence Chris Gorman, aka Big Ladder Photographer
The Sloane Square school lies within London’s Zone 1, and is deemed a very congested area therefore any drone flight within this region requires a number of permissions, including landowners, NATS, CAA and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner.
After receiving the brief, DronePrep started the necessary consultations to ensure the flight would be compliant and safe which included speaking with the Grosvenor Estate and Cadogan Estate which resulted in opening up 400 acres of low-level airspace.
PfCO DronePrep Pilot-in-Residence Chris Gorman (The Big Ladder Photographer) was able to advantage of the quiet streets and brilliant air quality that London experienced during the initial lockdown period. The footage is simply stunning and it was a absolute pleasure to work with Francis Holland School on this project and open up the largest ever flight envelope in Zone 1, London.
We are delighted to continue the collaboration with the London school on more pioneering work and STEM projects in the making.
The project caught media attention and was recently featured in The Telegraph
If you have a Drone project brief you would like to discuss, please get in touch with DronePrep Founders Gareth Whatmore & Claire Owen.
Today Business & Innovation Magazine published an article around how BetaDen Cohort 3 companies have responded to Covid-19 with innovative technology solutions.
Based at Malvern Hills Science Park, as part of BetaDen, we have amazing support from the scale-up programme mentors and cohort members, and feel very lucky to call BetaDen the DronePrep home.
Business & Innovation Magazine is an essential source for business and industry news, covering regional business news, topics and sectors and national business news through a regional perspective.
We’re thrilled to be featured, and very proud of the work we’ve done during lockdown.
We are delighted to announce that we have joined Cohort 3 of the prestigious BetaDen scale-up accelerator.
BetaDen provides a revolutionary platform for businesses to develop next-generation technology. As part of BetaDen, DronePrep will benefit from maximum exposure well within this ecosystem and will position our business at the forefront of future technology.
Having been BetaDen Residents for just over 2 weeks we have already received an incredible welcome and a vast amount of support from the mentors and our fellow cohort businesses which include:
Our new home is in the BetaDen offices located in the Malvern Hills Science Park – a community of some 400 people exploiting science and technology. We couldn’t ask for anywhere better for us to grow the business as we launch our BETA website following weeks of community testing, and then we start work on the full software platform.
If you’re nearby Malvern at any point please do call in to say hi – the coffee is amazing!
As part of the Solent Transport consortia, we are proud to be working with Windracer, the University of Southampton and Consortiq to trial an innovative and fast UAV drone transportation service as a result of the COVID-19. The aim is to transport medical supplies and equipment to St Mary’s Hospital, Isle of Wight from Southampton General Hospital via the Solent Airport in only 20 minutes.
The trial, the first of its kind, is part of the Future Transport Zone (FTZ) project funded by the Department for Transport, to use the Windracer ULTRA UAV drone, which has been designed and built by the University of Southampton for Windracers. The trial will benefit patients on the Isle of Wight by speeding up the delivery to and from the Hospital.
The trial will involve a Windracers ULTRA UAV drone flying between the Isle of Wight and the mainland to support St Mary’s Hospital, providing an additional transit service for small unit loads as a backup to the existing logistics system which uses ferries, and which currently have a reduced service during the Covid-19 crisis.
The Windracers ULTRA UAV is a double engine, fixed-winged aircraft with a carrying capacity of up to 100Kg, in a space around the size of an estate car boot, over 1,000 km. In the initial operation, it will be carrying loads of not more than 40Kg and the type of cargo will depend on the needs of the hospital and be subject to permissions granted by the Civil Aviation Authority. The ULTRA platform uses an innovative high-reliability avionics system developed by its sister company, Distributed Avionics.
