Delivering a facility on time and according to contract is no longer a guarantee of quality. Increasingly, buildings that pass inspection flawlessly turn out to be inconvenient in everyday use. Read about how to bridge the gap between formal standards and real life in the Orda.kz article, reports Todayinfo.
BI Engineering & Construction suggests viewing a facility as a product that does not end at the moment of handover. This approach requires considering not only the client's requirements but also the experience of end users. According to Maria Alsenova, Director of Legal & Customer Experience, it is this experience that shows how viable the solution is.
“While the facility is on paper and under construction, everything seems logical and correct. But as soon as real people enter, things appear that are not always obvious at the design stage. Feedback is about understanding where we missed the mark in real life. Sometimes it's small things, sometimes quite fundamental issues. Then it becomes a matter of principle: either you ignore it or use it as material to avoid repeating the same mistakes in future projects,” said Maria Alsenova.
According to her, the key quality assessment occurs not at the moment of handover, but during actual operation. The company returns to facilities annually during the warranty period to monitor dynamics. “An assessment 'at handover' says almost nothing. Everything still looks neat, and real problems simply haven't had time to appear. So we look after the facility has started living. When people use it every day, that's when it becomes clear what works and what doesn't,” Alsenova explained.
The company distinguishes between quick fixes and fundamental design-level changes. For example, during the construction of a polyclinic in Almaty, a children's room, navigation, and a stroller area were added, although these zones were not originally included in the project. At another medical facility, navigation was implemented on the approach to the buildings, and in schools, soft zones were installed and landscaping was enhanced.
