Land surveyor in Benidorm

Plots between party walls and high-rise construction

On a Benidorm building plot the margin for error is minimal. The building has to fit the planning alignments, the neighbour's party wall and an excavation several basement levels deep. Before the project we survey the plot together with the adjoining façades, the street levels and the service connections. During construction we set out axes, columns and floor slabs storey by storey.

On tall towers we also check the verticality of the core and the façades, and we keep a record of every check. That is what the site management team needs to sign off with peace of mind.

Excavations and retaining structures: measuring what is dug out

Digging basements next to occupied buildings calls for monitoring. We survey the ground before work begins, calculate the volume of the excavation as the difference between two surfaces and, if the project requires it, place control points on party walls and diaphragm walls to detect any movement during construction. The readings are dated and signed.

When the builder needs it, we measure in phases to separate what was excavated in each type of ground, which is not paid at the same rate. That way the progress certificates come from a measurement, not from an estimate.

Topographic surveys of existing buildings in Benidorm

In an owners' association (comunidad de propietarios), or when a commercial unit or a penthouse is sold, the area in the title deed and the one in the Cadastre (Catastro, Spain's land and property register for tax purposes) are not always the built area. We measure the floor plan, separate usable and built area and prepare the documentation to correct the Cadastre or for the notary's office.

If an enclosed terrace or an undeclared rooftop extension turns up, we explain how it is usually resolved and which document is needed in each case.

Houses on the slopes, away from the towers

Benidorm also has detached houses on sloping ground, next to the Serra Gelada natural park and in the rural districts (partidas) that border l'Alfàs del Pi and La Nucia. There the work is closer to that of the Marina Alta: plots with walls, boundaries that need checking and plans to renovate or extend.

Many of those houses were bought decades ago and are now being inherited by children who live elsewhere and discover that the pool or the enclosed porch does not appear anywhere. We measure what has been built, date it with historical aerial photographs and prepare the cadastral building location report (ICUC) and the certificate of age where appropriate.

Typical cases in Benidorm

A builder who needs setting out and geometric control of a residential tower throughout the structure. A studio about to design on a plot with two party walls that needs the exact street levels. An owners' association in dispute with the neighbouring building over the position of a wall. An owner selling a penthouse who discovers that the covered terrace is not in the Cadastre.