BUILDING SURVEYS

Structural Engineering Building Surveys

We are happy to advise on the input required for your survey, for further information please contact MP Consulting Engineers to speak to one of our engineers.

Structural Engineering

General Structural Survey

Reasons to implement a structural survey may be as a result of defects which are evident in the form of cracking to walls, floor or ceiling or where the building fabric needs to be defined for alteration or mortgage requirements.

• Foundation failure
• Affects of trees close to buildings
• Below ground drainage failure
• Damp penetration
• Infestation of timbers
• Perished or lack of wall ties
• Poor connection of floors to walls
• Lack of expansion joints in outer walls
• Excessive openings in masonry panels
• Water ingress
• Corrosion of steel
• Degradation of exposed concrete

MP have experienced chartered engineers who are able to provide expert assessment of the building fabric leading to opinions of the cause and nature of any defects. Where the cause or solution cannot be ascertained by visual inspection, MP work closely with specialist contractors who will complete intrusive surveys to provide additional data.

Structural Engineering

Intrusive Survey

Where reasons for visible defects cannot be ascertained, intrusive surveys are recommended to provide close inspection, opening up an opportunity for material sampling and laboratory testing of samples taken.

MP work with a selection of specialist surveyors to complete intrusive surveys – examples of intrusive surveys are as follow:

• Concrete cover survey to reinforcement
• Carbonation / Chloride contamination of concrete
• Tell-tale application to cracking
• The ground investigation, trial pits & boreholes
• CCTV drainage survey
• Wall tie borescope survey
• Timber condition survey
• Damp survey

The results of intrusive testing provide data typically comprise factual results, which are included within reporting provided by MP.

MP reporting is typically intended for the definition of remedial works, however, reporting may also be required for Landlords’ review, mortgage purposes, or within dispute resolution.

Structural Engineering

Planned Inspections

Our building surveys have been adapted to highlight defects on a traffic-lighted Red Amber Green RAG basis, whereby MP is able to focus where prioritization of attendance is required to de-risk elements which have been identified.

Typical areas of planned inspections where defects are identified relate to building facades, roof areas, external pavements, and boundary treatments. These areas are treated as high risk due to the exposure of both members of the public and users of the building where loose elements may fall or holes may form leading to property damage or personal injury.

Structural Engineering

Emergency Response

Through framework agreements with Landlords, tenants, and Facilities Contractors, MP has provided an emergency response as Structural Engineering Consultant for over 10 years.

Where structure damage has occurred and emergency services have responded, it is common for areas to be closed until engineers inspection has been made and reaction or assurances have been provided to mitigate the

The reason for emergency response varies by project; examples of responses made by MP include the following

• Damage by vehicle impact
• Structure damage caused by break-in / vandalism
• Storm damage
• Fire damage
• Structure movement/collapse

MP provides on-call attendance during holiday periods and out of hours to suit the requirements of any incidents for which our clients require Structural Engineering Consultancy for any emergency event.