Inspections

The inspections can be ready programmed within a conservation plan, or they may be developed independently in case of absence of the plan. They shall be carried out with a predominantly qualitative approach, considering the building as a system that interacts with the environmental context and analyzing its constitutive elements.

Before the beginning of the inspection, it is necessary to take all the previous information of the building / element to be inspected (especially those acquired during previous activity of inspection, maintenance or restoration). In this way, it is possible to have a dynamic assessment of the conservation state of the building and of the efficiency of the maintenance strategies already performed. The preliminary identification of the asset of critical parts allows the inspection activity to be scheduled considering the most adequate operating sequences.

The visual inspection, usually performed without direct access to the surfaces, is aimed at the detection of macroscopic phenomena of decay and it constitutes the fundamental prerequisite aimed at defining a diagnosis about the status of technical elements. It requires the ability to assess the visible phenomena and to correlate these phenomena - regarded as a response to external loads - with reasonable technical explanations. The direct check requires close access to the elements to be inspected in order to verify their condition and their functionality when it is necessary; it can confirm the assessments made during the visual inspection. For structures involving difficult access, the surveys can be performed without the use of scaffolding or with the use of access and positioning methods by ropes. The building to be inspected shall be thoroughly analyzed, detecting specific problems or defects, investigating the causes of the possible deterioration and documenting the actual state with pictures. If the anomalies cannot be easily interpreted or correlated to symptoms, leading to an accurate diagnosis, it is necessary to activate instrumental controls aimed at obtaining elements for further assessment. These controls are performed through the techniques described over the previous pages.

The results of inspections are reported in a data base for the conservation management that can be constituted by forms specifically written, or that can be integrated into the conservation plan – where that exists in digital format.

 QUALIFICATIONS

• Alessandro Armanasco – qualified for inspection and maintenance of historical buildings in Lombardy since 20.05.2013
• Alessandro Armanasco – qualified for assessing the building accessibility after seismic events according to governmental public safety department since 17.12.2015
• Dario Foppoli – qualified for rope access on historic and iconic buildings since 04.04.2014
• Michele Besseghini – qualified for rope access on historic and iconic buildings since 29/01/2015