Integrated building assessment

Refurbishment and new construction

Two as­sign­ments show how spe­cial­ist dis­ci­plines come to­geth­er in the re­fur­bish­ment of a pub­lic build­ing and the ex­ten­sion of a nurs­ery.

Understand the building before designing

Doc­u­men­tary and cadas­tral re­view of the build­ing, with func­tion­al and fire-safe­ty de­sign for the rel­e­vant por­tion.

Read the case

A nursery extension followed through to site close-out

Final de­sign re­view and works su­per­vi­sion, with the prac­tice lead­ing the pro­fes­sion­al team. Co­or­di­na­tion of struc­ture, build­ing sys­tems and fire safe­ty.

Read the case

What is an integrated structural, fire safety and energy assessment?

It is a tech­ni­cal as­sess­ment con­sid­er­ing struc­tur­al safe­ty, fire pre­ven­tion and en­er­gy per­for­mance to­geth­er. The oblig­a­tions ap­plic­a­ble to the ac­tu­al build­ing are checked in each dis­ci­pline, in­clud­ing NTC 2018, fire pre­ven­tion rules and na­tion­al en­er­gy re­quire­ments in light of the 2024 EPBD and its im­ple­men­ta­tion. The find­ings from the three dis­ci­plines are compared: struc­tur­al work can be co­or­di­nat­ed with in­su­la­tion, and fire com­part­men­ta­tion with build­ing ser­vices.

When does it make sense to address all three disciplines together?

The in­te­grat­ed ap­proach is use­ful for changes of use, major ren­o­va­tion, tech­ni­cal due dili­gence be­fore ac­quir­ing com­plex prop­er­ty and changes in man­age­ment of ac­tiv­i­ties sub­ject to fire pre­ven­tion con­trols. In each case it al­lows the dis­ci­plines to be co­or­di­nat­ed be­fore defin­ing the de­sign and re­quired fil­ings.

How long does an integrated assessment take on an existing building?

The as­sess­ment phase takes an in­dica­tive 2–4 weeks; co­or­di­nat­ed de­sign, if re­quired, takes a fur­ther 4–8, as shown in the table. These are es­ti­mates, not guar­an­teed timescales: miss­ing doc­u­ments, in­ves­ti­ga­tions and build­ing com­plex­i­ty can ex­tend them. Fil­ings have vari­able timescales, de­pend­ing on the re­quire­ments and au­thor­i­ties in­volved.

Can a partially refurbished building benefit from the integrated approach?

Yes. Im­prov­ing the en­er­gy per­for­mance of a school wing can be an op­por­tu­ni­ty to check load-bear­ing ma­son­ry in the rooms con­cerned. A new fire door can be co­or­di­nat­ed with the build­ing’s ther­mal zon­ing. The ap­proach helps iden­ti­fy in­ter­ac­tions even in lim­it­ed works; it does not al­ways re­quire work across all three dis­ci­plines.

What is the difference between integrated diagnosis and separate discipline-by-discipline design?

The dif­fer­ence lies in how de­ci­sions are brought to­geth­er. When sev­er­al spe­cial­ists are in­volved, each as­sess­es their field and the find­ings must be con­sid­ered to­geth­er. In In­te­grat­ed Di­ag­no­sis, one tech­ni­cal lead as­sess­es the build­ing across the three fields and co­or­di­nates fur­ther in­ves­ti­ga­tions, in­volv­ing other spe­cial­ists where the as­sign­ment calls for them. This helps iden­ti­fy in­ter­faces, pri­or­i­ties and po­ten­tial­ly over­lap­ping works early. The num­ber of site vis­its de­pends on the build­ing and the in­ves­ti­ga­tions need­ed; pro­fes­sion­al roles and li­a­bil­i­ties fol­low the in­di­vid­ual ap­point­ments.

What experience does the Studio have with existing public and institutional buildings with structural issues?

The prac­tice has car­ried out seis­mic vul­ner­a­bil­i­ty as­sess­ments, di­ag­nos­tic in­ves­ti­ga­tions and statu­to­ry struc­tur­al in­spec­tions (col­lau­do sta­ti­co) on schools, pub­lic build­ings and de­fence fa­cil­i­ties. In­te­grat­ed Di­ag­no­sis com­bines these skills with fire safe­ty and en­er­gy as­sess­ment to es­tab­lish is­sues and pri­or­i­ties.

Does the integrated approach also apply to new construction?

Yes. In new con­struc­tion, struc­ture, fire safe­ty and en­er­gy per­for­mance are al­ready de­sign re­quire­ments. Co­or­di­nat­ing them from the out­set helps check com­pat­i­bil­i­ty be­tween struc­tur­al de­ci­sions, build­ing ser­vices and the en­ve­lope, and may re­duce in­ter­faces that would oth­er­wise need re­solv­ing dur­ing con­struc­tion. In ex­ist­ing build­ings, co­or­di­na­tion also helps as­sess how work in one area af­fects the oth­ers.