Building refurbishment in Alicante

A full refurbishment treats the building as a whole. The structure is inspected, the envelope is renewed, the main services are replaced and accessibility is resolved. Then, if you need it, the flats and the common areas are finished.

The exact scope is not decided on the first visit. It is set by the survey: exploratory openings, a structural inspection and the real condition of the services. With that document you know what has to be done, what is worth doing and what can wait.

That order matters. If the façade is renewed before the downpipes are replaced, or the entrance hall is painted before the lift goes in, you pay for the work twice. Managing the whole building as one project avoids that kind of mistake and leaves you with one schedule and one budget.

• The building is more than 50 years old. In the Comunitat Valenciana, Decree 53/2018 of the Consell (Decreto 53/2018) requires residential buildings of that age to have a Building Evaluation Report (Informe de Evaluación del Edificio, IEE), which is valid for 10 years. It is often the first warning of what the property needs.
• The sea air has done its work. On the coast, salt and humidity corrode steel reinforcement, loosen cladding and degrade windows and doors sooner than they do inland.
• You have just bought the building, or you are about to. This is the moment to find out what work it needs, before you settle its value and its use.
• You are going to let it. A building renovated in one go costs less to maintain than one repaired floor by floor.

1. Survey. A visit, exploratory openings and an inspection of the structure, façade, roof and services. You end up with a report on the condition of the building and the scope of the works.
2. Design and licence. Registered architects (arquitectos colegiados) draw up the design and we apply for the licence at the town hall. The construction design (proyecto de ejecución) includes measurements and an itemised budget.
3. Works in phases. We sequence the works so that one phase does not get in the way of the next: structure and envelope first, then services, and finishes last.
4. Handover with documentation. The building is handed over finished, with as-built drawings and the certificates for the installations.

If the building is empty, the works move forward one whole floor at a time and are faster and cleaner.

If it has tenants, the work on the façade, roof, main services and common areas is organised in phases, with protected access routes and advance notice to residents. Inside the flats we only work when they are vacant: that is how we do it on all our projects.

With tenants, the works are also planned with the outside world in mind: set hours for noisy work, water or power cuts announced in advance, and a named person residents can turn to. What tenants go through during the works ends up shaping your relationship with them.

• A building with its structure inspected, a new envelope and renewed main services.
• The final drawings of the works and the certificates for the installations.
• A single point of contact throughout the works, and a weekly report with photos, schedule and progress certificates (certificaciones).
• The guarantees set by the Building Act (Ley 38/1999 de Ordenación de la Edificación, LOE).

The works are carried out in line with the Technical Building Code (Código Técnico de la Edificación, CTE) in every area it covers: structural safety, fire safety, accessibility, health and hygiene, noise and energy saving.