11,900 Images Later: TDM Captures Airlie Beach’s Retail Transformation

TDM has completed a construction media package for RM Developments’ Airlie Beach Super Retail Centre, bringing together long-term timelapse capture, aerial progress photography and photographs of the finished BCF and Supercheap Auto fitouts.

RM Developments records practical completion in November 2024. The development gave our team a brief that extended across the build: keep a consistent visual record while work progressed, then capture the finished retail spaces for their next stage of use.

Construction timelapse across the full build

Dedicated cameras were installed at the southeast corner of the site, maintaining a stable view across the construction footprint. The system captured an image every 20 minutes, Monday to Saturday between 5:30 am and 5:00 pm, with automated daily uploads.

Across the project, our records show more than 11,900 high-resolution images, 406.6GB of recorded data and 3,266 active capture hours. That archive provided the material for a two-minute final construction timelapse montage showing the site’s progression from initial works to completion.

A fixed viewpoint gives a construction sequence its continuity. As the building takes shape, the viewer can follow changes in the same frame rather than having to reorient themselves with every new photograph.

A progress dashboard for the project team

We also implemented a custom dashboard with daily image updates, curated galleries and access to timelapse sequences. It gave the project team, stakeholders and shareholders a central place to review the evolving build.

This made the capture useful during construction as well as after it. Individual images could support progress communication, while the longer sequence became a visual record and an asset for presenting the completed development.

From aerial views to finished fitouts

Alongside the fixed cameras, we provided aerial photography at key stages. Those views added context around the building, access roads and wider site that a single camera position could not show.

Once the retail fitouts were complete, TDM photographed the BCF and Supercheap Auto store environments. The interior images documented the spaces in their finished form for marketing, leasing and commercial portfolio use.

Together, these deliverables tell different parts of the same project. The timelapse records how the development changed, aerial photographs explain its scale and layout, and the finished-space photography shows what the construction ultimately delivered.

TDM and our sister company Timelapse Co

Construction documentation is a natural connection between TDM’s photography and video production and our sister company, Timelapse Co, which specialises in commercial timelapse capture and remote monitoring.

For a developer, the useful starting point is deciding who needs to see the project and when. A progress team may need regular images during the build; stakeholders may need an accessible overview; and the completed project may need a film and photography for its portfolio. Planning the capture around those uses helps the resulting media serve the whole project lifecycle.

See the footage and full scope on our Airlie Beach construction timelapse project page. Explore commercial photography and drone and aerial services, or enquire about documenting your next construction project.