BUILDING STRUCTURAL SURVEY

Structural survey of buildings and structures

GORKA Group delivers complex services for the structural survey of buildings, structures and their individual elements.
The survey of buildings should include a set of measures that allow you to provide diagnostics of technical condition of the building to operate the structure more efficiently. The main objective of our company is to promptly provide the Customer with all required and reliable information about the technical condition of the building or structure at any phase of construction or operation (at all stages of the life cycle of the building).

A good scope of GORKA’s activities in this field can be represented by four areas:

1. Survey of the technical condition and preparation of design documentation for buildings and complexes of buildings that are part of the historical and architectural heritage of the state (recognized historical and architectural monuments).
2. Survey of the existing utility networks technical condition and monitoring of the surrounding buildings during the installation of newly laid or reconstructed networks. Monitoring of utilities networks that can be affected by construction works for adjacent objects.
3. Comprehensive and partial engineering survey of the technical condition of residential, public and industrial buildings and structures.
4. Quality Control of works and strength of structural materials during construction supervision of buildings and structures.
5. The unique features of each type of survey are considered by our specialists under works performed following the requirements of the current regulations and guided by code of practice and vast experience.

Our company delivers comprehensive survey if you are facing one of the following tasks:

1. Reconstruction of residential, public or industrial buildings and their complexes.
2. Expert engineering opinion on the condition of the building in case of significant structural defects during its operation.
3. Capital repairs.
4. Technical documentation for industrial buildings by “reverse engineering”.
5. Assessment of the technical condition of a building under suspended construction (“unfinished”) to determine its subsequent fate.
6. Purchase of a building or a complex of buildings (office center, hotels, amenities, etc.).
7. Building renovation after accidents and incidents of natural and man-made nature.
8. Scheduled inspections of the building technical condition (no later than 2 years after its commissioning, then once every 10/5 years, depending on the operating conditions).

As part of a comprehensive survey, technical condition of all elements of a building or structure is assessed, including:

• foundations and subsoils;
• load-bearing and enclosing wall structures;
• floor structures (slabs, beams, shells);
• coverage of the building;
• braced and stiffness structures;
• supporting structures of utilities networks;
• span structures of bridges, etc.

During the survey, the main load-bearing structures are opened in joints, assemblies and connections in order to determine the structural design of the building and identify the structural strength in these places.

Depending on the task, the survey can be performed using visual, ultrasound, thermal imaging, television, electromagnetic, ground-penetrating radar methods and a combination of them. The strength of the main structural materials is determined by destructive methods on presses in laboratories, as well as by non-destructive methods of shear test, rebound resilience, shock pulse

GORKA Group has the required equipment to perform these survey works:

• measurement of structures with geodetic instruments;
• instrumental identification of flaw and damage parameters;
• test hole and opening of structures to determine their composition;
• materials strength characteristics of the main load-bearing structures and their elements by non-destructive methods;
• parameters of the operating environment;
• operational loads;
• forces in load-bearing structures due to operational loads;
• calculation of the structures load-bearing capacity based on the results of the survey with respect to detected flaw.

Check structural analysis of the building or structure under survey is performed by Lira, SCAD software.

All works are carried out according to the Terms of reference approved by the Customer including purpose, main objectives and parameters of the works performed.

Report with a description of the work done and related findings, and categories of technical condition assigned to the structural elements of the building and recommendations for further operation of the object is provided based on the results of the survey. Thus, the result of the survey for the Customer should be prompt, competent and sufficient information about the technical condition of the building, its structural potential and further development as property object. GORKA Group can develop and implement measures to extend the service life of the object by Customer’s request, as required.

The report on the completed survey is issued as an Expert engineering opinion and includes the following sections:

• General data of the object under survey (purpose, location, spatial planning solutions, basis for the survey).
• The results of measurements (plans, sections and elevations of the object, utilities diagrams, floors and roof).
• A detailed description of the building condition (including flaw and damage) by elements of the building (walls, floors, coating, foundations and bases, utilities networks).
• The results of the main structural materials strength tests.
• The results of the thermal imaging survey.
• The results of the geotechnical survey (if required).
• The results of the check calculations.
• Findings.
• Recommendations for further operation of object under survey.

GORKA Group policy is committed to continuous improvement of the quality. The company constantly provides advance training for employees, follows innovative technologies and methods of building surveys, reduces and optimizes the work schedule, uses only the most advanced and efficient equipment and software.