Healthy building assessments
Healthy buildings and indoor environmental quality
Cemprotecta carries out technical assessments of the environmental health of lived-in spaces: it identifies and measures the physical, chemical and biological factors present in homes, workplaces and other buildings, and assesses the environmental conditions in which people live or work there.
Each assessment combines a technical inspection, measurements with professional instruments, sampling where necessary and a joint interpretation of the results.
Assessments in Spain, Portugal and France. Other countries on request, depending on the conditions of the project.
Where to start
Tell us what is happening or which space you want assessed
You do not need to know which measurement is required. Start with what you have noticed or with the type of building.
Mould and damp
Stains, a musty smell or persistent condensation in part of the building.
→ Biological factors
Odours or chemical emissions
Odours that appear after renovation work, with new furniture or when certain materials are used.
→ Chemical factors
Nearby infrastructure
Mobile phone masts, power lines or electrical substations near the building.
→ Physical factors
Noise or vibration
A constant noise or vibration whose source you cannot pin down.
→ Noise
Specific environmental needs
Adapting a home or a workstation for a person with environmental sensitivity.
→ Environmental adaptation
Before buying or renting
Finding out the environmental conditions of a home or a plot before deciding.
→ Before buying or renting
If you notice that certain discomforts appear or get worse in a particular space, we can objectively assess the environmental conditions of the property to identify possible relevant factors.
The approach
What is a healthy building?
A building is not an inert object: it is a system in which physical, chemical and biological factors interact continuously.
Ventilation affects humidity, humidity affects microbiological growth, materials affect the air we breathe and the electrical installation affects the conditions in a bedroom. A healthy building assessment looks at that whole.
No factor should be interpreted in isolation. Every building calls for an understanding of its environmental conditions as a whole.
The aim of an assessment is not to point the finger, but to obtain a technical picture of the space and determine what needs attention in each case.
Methodology
How we work
An outline of the process. Each stage is adjusted to the scope of the assessment and the characteristics of the building.
Technical inspection
We analyse the building, its installations and its surroundings to determine what needs to be assessed in this particular case.
Measurements and sampling
We measure with professional instruments and, when the factor requires it, take samples for a specialist laboratory.
Technical interpretation
The results are studied together and related to the characteristics of the property and the objective of the assessment.
Report and recommendations
We document what we find and propose specific measures to reduce or correct whatever is necessary.
What we assess
Environmental factors, three families
Each assessment covers the factors that are relevant to the case. The full list is organised into three families.
The importance of each factor depends on the building and the objective of the assessment, not on a fixed hierarchy.
Who carries out the assessments
Juan Antonio Rivera Vila
An engineer specialising in measuring the physical, chemical and biological factors of the indoor environment. His assessments mainly follow the measurement criteria of the German technical standard SBM-2024.
IEB Master’s degree in Bioconstruction, and lecturer at the Instituto Español de Baubiologie (IEB) and on the Postgraduate Programme in Healthy Architecture and Bioconstruction at Escola Sert / COAC. He is a member of ISEAI and NAEM, and co-author of the Green Book on adapting the workplace for people with multiple chemical sensitivity and electromagnetic hypersensitivity, promoted by CONFESQ and funded by Fundación ONCE.
A significant share of Cemprotecta’s assessments takes place in homes and workplaces that need to be adapted to specific environmental needs. About this line of work.
Training, teaching and memberships
Instituto Español de Baubiologie (IEB) · Escola Sert / COAC · ISEAI · NAEM · Fundación ONCE
Where we work
We regularly carry out assessments in these three countries. Elsewhere, on request and depending on the conditions of the project.
Every building is different. Tell us about your case.
Tell us briefly what you want assessed and we will advise you on the most suitable type of assessment before anything is agreed.