Real Estate Buildings
Technical inspection and advisory services for real estate
Buildings must meet an increasing range of requirements. Not only developers and architects have audacious ideas in terms of design and functionality. Projects and buildings must perform over time on various aspects such as structural stability and tightness as well as both comfort and energy consumption with even more stringent performance levels. A complex puzzle to find the appropriate balance between sometimes conflicting ambitions. The stakes are also being set higher every day. What applies to a building is now expected even at the level of communities or districts.
SO, WHY US?
SECO’s real estate team covers all aspects of buildings. It includes experts in structural stability, building physics, curtain wall and joinery, technical equipment and finishing works. Our engineers create added value at every stage of your project, by guiding the project team from the initial concept, during the design phase and execution till handover.
SECO’s engineers have enabled the completion of many prestigious projects in retail, care, leisure, education and public transport.
WHAT WE CAN DO FOR YOU:
- Risk assessment
- Design review
- Bid support
- Quick scan
- Technical inspection (design and execution) – IDI
- Technical inspection (design and execution)
- Technical audit subcontractors
- Technical advisory
- Project Management support
- Value engineering
- Life cycle analysis
Fire safety engineering
National, regional and local governments see an increased interest of their citizens to live and work in urban areas. Mobility patterns change and lifestyle undergoes profound changes. Health and safety requirements alter accordingly, including those on fire safety. Authorities issue and adapt regulations, which become more complex to integrate into building projects.
SO, WHY US?
SECO’s fire safety engineering team participate in committees on fire safety regulations at European level and have built up a strong network in this field. Our engineers specialize in the integration of both active and passive fire protection in the concepts that developers and their architects have on the drawing table. We support tenants and property managers with our expertise to keep their premises and fire safety installations, operational and in line with regulations.
Our clients develop and operate shopping malls, hospitals, public buildings, football stadia, railway stations and airport terminals.
WHAT WE CAN DO FOR YOU:
- Risk assessment
- Design review
- Quick scan
- Support in design and execution of fire protection systems
- Advice on and simulation of smoke and heat evacuation (parking lots)
- Support during handover and testing of fire protection installations
- Design support, based on actual fireload
- Audit
- Expert review
- Inspection (active fire protection)
- Periodic inspection
- Maintenance audit
Building performance assignments
Innovative construction types and building materials are introduced in order to meet increasing requirements for sustainable and eco-friendly solutions. Along with their appearance, new types of disorders occur in buildings. The use of timber frame increases the exposure of buildings to potential humidity problems. With passive buildings, particular attention should be paid to the risk of overheating and air quality. Small modifications that affect the insulation of the building can have an important impact on the performance of the shell. Just some examples that show that buildings are nowadays a more complex and critical process.
WHY SECO ?
Our involvement in technical control and expert reviews makes us a privileged partner in assessing the risk of potential defects and failures in the interrelationships of building’s structures and materials with their environments; tenants and contents. Sharing our experience with the project team from the initial concept, during the design phase and execution till handover, has made us acquainted with a variety of disorders in buildings. We analyse the underlying causes and offer different technical solutions.
SECO’s specific assignments cover the fields of thermal and visual comfort, energy, vibrations and acoustic behavior.
WHAT WE CAN DO FOR YOU:
- Concept analysis
- Design review
- Solutions and new technologies
- Guidance on passive building construction
- Evaluation of alternative solutions
- Proposal of corrective measures and solutions
- Analysis – definition of requirements
- Optimisation of performance
- Testing and measurements (blower door test and infrared thermography)
- Dynamic simulations
- Commissioning
- Monitoring
- Site inspection
- Performance statement
Sustainability certification
BREEAM has become the leading sustainability reference scheme in Europe. SECO is one of the first partners of BBRE in the Benelux. We have assessed new projects of buildings as well as buildings “in use”, targets of transactions with international players that have chosen Brussels for their real estate investments.
SO, WHY US?
SECO has always been at the forefront of sustainable construction. Based on our thorough understanding of the functionality of a building and the underlying technical requirements, we have developed our own sustainability scheme for buildings. Valideo is a flexible tool that allows investors or developers to include their specific requirements in the fields of energy performance, comfort levels, site management, water management and accessibility. In addition to the possibility to tailor the weighting of the different parameters to your needs, Valideo takes into account the actual performance of your building. For this purpose, SECO’s engineers support your project team during both design and execution phases, bringing various alternatives to the project team. SECO has been in charge of almost 100 projects till date.
WHAT WE CAN DO FOR YOU:
- Guidance on sustainability schemes
- BREEAM pre-assessment
- BREEAM assessment
- BREEAM in use
- DGNB certification
- HQE certification
- LEED certification
- Commissioning manager
- Commissioning agent
- Support building user guide
- Support BMS
- Seasonal commissioning
- Carbon footprint analysis
- Guidance on circular economy
Technical building maintenance services
Did you know that maintenance cost of office buildings bring the total cost of ownership to between 2 and 3 times the initial investment? The reasons of this gap are as diverse as the complexity of the buildings themselves:
- Interference between envelope and technical installations
- Introduction of new types of building materials
- Handover phase between development – construction team and facility – maintenance team
- Actions of users and maintenance teams
- Involvement of technically less-experienced players
- Short-term approach during design and construction
- Philosophy of replacement rather than optimization
- Improper choice of maintenance scheme
SO, WHY US?
Through expert reviews, we are acquainted with disorders that occur when buildings are “in use”. 80 years of experience makes us well placed to measure the condition of buildings and technical installations in particular, as a starting point to further support our clients for their maintenance operations. We are a trusted partner for large industrial and real estate groups that want to keep their assets in good condition with the most effective maintenance scheme and the most economical long term options for replacement investments.
WHAT WE CAN DO FOR YOU:
- Condition measurement
- Bid support
- Analysis of maintenance contracts
- Performance monitoring
- Periodic inspections of condition
- Evaluation of performance of service providers
- Maintenance program analysis
- Inventory action plan
- Costing
- Project Management support
- Life cycle
Technical due diligence
Not only buildings are designed and constructed; they are also sold, refurbished and reallocated. Economics, operations and technical challenges need to find the right balance. And investors are looking for the assurance their investment will bring the expected return.
SO, WHY US?
Our track record of involvement in many projects and expert reviews, makes us a privileged technical partner in real estate transactions. We are familiar with regulations and physical conditions in many European countries and even worldwide.
This is why groups like Unibail Rodamco, BNP Paribas Fortis, KPMG, Deloitte and retailers involve us in their real estate developments.
WHAT WE CAN DO FOR YOU:
- Assessment of the general technical condition of a building
- Evaluation of possibilities of reallocation
- Assessment of statutory and compliance matters:
– health and safety regulations
– fire safety regulations
– building regulations
– exploitation regulations
– environmental regulations - Budget costing for repair and maintenance
- Reinstatement cost assessment
- Environmental desk study assessment (soil, flood risk…)
- Energy performance analysis
Construction quality management
Black box calculations, constraints on budgets and timing, increased involvement of subcontractors, need for efficient coordination and communication, increased complexity… These factors are all potential threats to the quality of a project with overspending on average 10 to 15% of the initial budget.
SO, WHY US?
At SECO, we can provide a high level of technical expertise and knowledge of the industry thanks to our partnerships with many stakeholders on a variety of projects, starting in the concept phase over design and execution to handover and beyond. Our track record consists in risk normalisation through technical control and knowledge of building products and processes, even qualification of project organisations and people.
WHAT WE CAN DO FOR YOU:
- Product certification
- Certification of people and processes
- Quality audit of the design process
- Support of contractors in establishing quality assurance plans
- Audit of contractors’ operations
- Worldwide inspections of manufacturing units
- Quality audit of subcontractors
- Setup of risk driven control schemes
Health, safety and environment
People count! This is why we want to contribute to comfortable and safe working and living conditions for current and future generations. Here past and future meet. Our mission is to contain damage from the past and to support the establishment of optimum environmental conditions for the future.
WHAT WE CAN DO FOR YOU:
- Environmental audit
- Safety coordination (concept, design and execution phases)
- Safety inspections
- Evaluation of accessibility
- Check of asbestos inventory
- Evaluation of procedures guiding asbestos cleaning operations
- Follow-up of asbestos cleaning operations
- “Asbestos free” and “asbestos safe” certification
- Assessment of impact of building materials
Regulated body (organisme agréé) for ITM, SNSFP, AEV (Luxemburg)
In health and safety matters, SECOLUX goes beyond the norm and consider all possible scenarios. The watchword of our regulated body experts, chartered by the Luxembourgish Inspectorate of Labor and Mines (Inspection du Travail et des Mines ITM), the Luxembourgish National Security Service for the Public Service (Service National de la Sécurité dans la Fonction Publique SNSFP) and the Luxembourgish Environment Agency (Administration de l’Environnement AEV), is to allow for all risks and for the good of all.
SECOLUX is an independent inspection body certified by the Luxembourg Bureau for Accreditation and Surveillance (Office Luxembourgeois d’Accréditation et de Surveillance OLAS), based on the ISO / IEC 17020 standard for the inspection of compliance with authorizations of classified establishments. All inspections are executed, from the design stage until the commissioning, and in the following categories:
- The general safety of persons and fire safety
- The safety measures of construction and demolition sites
- Electrical installations, lifts and hoists
- Scaffolding and ladders
- Asbestos
- Pressure Equipment
- Machinery and protective equipment
- Hazardous fluids
SECOLUX verifies the compliance of buildings and its facilities against the authorization decree and after prior approval of the monitoring plan produced by the Luxembourgish Environment Agency. SECOLUX is licensed by AEV in the following fields:
- F111 – Facility receptions of the artisanal sector including the field of expertise F121 (oil tanks and pipelines)
- F13 – Facility receptions of the building sector
The spirit to understand the gist, prevent hazards and to notify knowingly, are skills that our clients do find with Secolux.
TIS (Netherlands)
WHAT IS TIS?
Seconed is a Technical Inspection Service (T.I.S.) that conducts independent assessments of the technical construction quality of structures, including the inspections regarding compliance with the applicable laws and regulations.
In the TIS concept, SECONED performs inspections beginning in the design phase up to and including completion. At the end of the inspection process, SECONED issues a declaration regarding the construction quality. Among other things, this declaration can be used to demonstrate to the following parties that the requested/required construction quality was achieved:
- Commissioning party of the project
- T.A. or a financial institution
- Future owners
- Insurers (Contractors’ All Risk Insurance, Hidden Defect Insurance, Warranty Insurance)
- Municipal Building Department
- SPC validation in PPS projects
- Other parties concerned
ASSESSMENT FRAMEWORKS
The standard assessment framework for a TIS assignment looks at whether the design and the completed structure are in compliance with the Buildings Decree. The commissioning party of the TIS can also elect to request individual scopes or add other assessment frameworks. The figure below illustrates the relationship between the standard assessment framework and the individual scopes.
Instead of, or in addition to, the Buildings Decree, other assessment frameworks can be used, such as the requirements from output specification, or a set of standards, guidelines and/or statutory frameworks.
This allows assessment in the following scopes:
- Health and safety
- Comfort requirements (acoustics, heating, air quality, air/water tightness, visual appearance)
- Flexibility
- Integrated Accessibility
- Sustainability
- Energy Performance
- General Performance
- Auxiliary Structures
- Impact on the surroundings
Maintenance of infrastructure and industrial facilities
DBFM-setups require new approaches of what was once considered as a “fixed” asset. Performance of maintenance operations is challenging design teams to take into account life cycle cost and maintenance itself must be organized in the most efficient way. Also maintenance of traditional structural elements such as industrial halls, steel structures, tanks, silos… is becoming an integral part of industrial property management.
SO, WHY US?
Through expert reviews, carried out on over 500 constructions per year, we are familiar with issues of wear and corrosion of concrete and steel elements in industrial environments. Based on international standards, we have developed a model that allows to assess the condition of constructions in a systematic and repetitive manner, classifying disorders per type and allowing prioritizing remedial measures depending on occurrence, critical level and functionality. You can rely on our professionals whilst you can focus on your core process.
WHAT WE CAN DO FOR YOU:
- Condition measurement
- Structural audit (transactional)
- Bid support
- Periodic inspections of condition
- Maintenance program analysis
- Support in establishing a maintenance plan
- Establishment action plan
- Costing
- Project Management support
- Life cycle analysis
