Building a new facility is the most demanding decision a company makes about its spaces. The process has a precise order, and the costliest mistakes are made at the start, before any drawing is done. Here are the steps, in sequence.
1. The requirements
Before the land comes the question: what the building has to do. Production process, flows of materials and people, offices, logistics, expected growth. From this come the floor areas, heights, loads and power capacity that the design will have to provide.
2. The site and urban planning
Every plot has its own rules: permitted use, plot ratios, heights, distances, constraints. They determine what can be built and how long it takes to obtain the building permit. The urban planning check must be done before the purchase: a well-priced plot can turn out to be unsuitable for the project.
3. Feasibility
A feasibility study brings volumes, costs and timings together in a single picture. It is the document on which the business owner decides and on which the financial plan is built.
4. The integrated design
A production building is designed around production. Architecture, structures and building systems are developed together, on the same model: the column grid follows the layout of the lines, the building systems follow the process, the offices connect with the shop floor. Further reading: Integrated design and Industrial architecture: the shed as a project.
5. Permits, tender, construction
With the design come the building permit and the necessary approvals, starting with fire prevention. Then the tender: contractors selected on objective criteria, and clear contracts. On site, works supervision, project management and health and safety coordination keep quality, timings and costs under control.
6. Testing and handover
Checks, certificate of occupancy (agibilità), land registry filing: the building goes into operation when it is compliant. The steps are in Testing and occupancy.
A single point of contact
Every change of hands between different consultants is a point where information and time are lost. ARCHIlabs follows the whole process with in-house expertise: urban planning, architecture, structures, building systems, safety, works supervision and testing. In Calcinate we designed Marlegno's Innovation Building Center: 25,000 m² of production, management and representative spaces.