Economical, not merely permissible
Between the permissible answer and the clever one there are often several thousand euros in the shell. We look for the clever one and explain why.
Shell construction, Heinsberg district
Engineering office for structural design
Structures built to stand in Waldfeucht
Willi Matern M.Sc. calculates, draws and builds for the municipality of Waldfeucht: certifiable structural design for a new house on the edge of the village, workable answers for the conversion of an old farm building, and the shell construction itself if you want it.
- Project work
- More than 25 years
- Buildings
- Over 200 projects
- On site
- Waldfeucht and the Heinsberg district
Understand the load first, then pick up the pen
A structure is not a formality for the building application. It decides how slender a floor slab can be, how open a room stays and what the shell finally costs. So we do not simply check the numbers, we plan with you.
What matters in our work is long experience in new build as much as in conversion. An engineer’s eye for a sensible and economical construction comes before any catalogue detail. Our competence rests on more than 25 years of project work with over 200 projects across the widest range of construction methods, briefs and requirements.
One person responsible
Structural design, detailed design, site management and shell construction come from one house. Nobody passes an open question to the next trade.
Fast when things change
Something changes on site. We react at short notice, recalculate and deliver the revised item before the crane stands still.
What we take on for your project
Design and consulting in construction for private and public clients, from a family house in Haaren to a commercial hall on the edge of the village. Commission single services or the whole chain.
Structural analysis and design
Certifiable structural calculation for new build, extension and conversion. We size walls, slabs, lintels, beams and foundations and deliver the documents your checking engineer and the building authority want to see.
- Item and reinforcement drawings
- Certificates for the building application
- Steel structure analysis and design
- Stress analysis by finite element method
Building physics and energy advice
Thermal, acoustic and moisture protection belong in the same design as the structure. We bring the two together instead of filing two certificates side by side.
- Thermal performance certificate
- Acoustic protection in housing
- Advice on construction build ups
- Energy assessment of existing fabric
Detailed design and tendering
Formwork and reinforcement drawings, junction details, bills of quantities. You get comparable offers and your contractors build what was actually calculated.
- Drawings to scale
- Junction details
- Bills of quantities
- Support during tendering
Shell construction
Earthworks, masonry and reinforced concrete as the main building trade. We build the shell we calculated, through to the topping out ceremony and handover.
- Excavation and foundations
- Masonry and reinforced concrete
- Slabs, lintels, stairs
- Perimeter insulation and sealing
Facing and clinker brickwork
Facades in solid clinker and clinker slips, for more than 25 years, in dependable craft work from a master craftsman. For the villages of the Selfkant the obvious facade.
- Solid clinker brick
- Clinker slips
- Fair faced masonry and joint pattern
- Junction with existing fabric
Site management and cost control
Supervision on site: correct and punctual execution, coordination of the trades, documentation of the build, handover and defect tracking.
- Programme for the trades
- Checking against the drawings
- Measurement and handover
- Tracking of defects
Old fabric with no drawings? That is our case.
Waldfeucht holds a great deal that is older than any building file: farm buildings, barns, houses grown over several phases. Changing any of it needs someone who can judge a structure even when no drawing survives.
What counts is long experience not only in new build but in conversion and modernisation, even where records of the existing structure are missing or incomplete. We survey the building on site, derive how the loads travel today and calculate the new condition.
- Openings in walls and slabs with certification
- Removal of load bearing walls, replaced by a beam
- Adding a storey and converting a roof space
- An extension against an existing building
- Assessment of existing slabs and foundations
- Change of use of agricultural buildings
We show our own work
Photographs from our own sites in the Heinsberg district. No picture library, no other firm’s projects.
Click to enlarge
Tell us about your project
A short note is enough to begin. We come back to you, work through the open points and tell you which documents we need.
Bring whatever you have: a sketch, a floor plan, photographs, old drawings. A picture from your phone already helps.
- Where does the building stand and how old is it?
- What is to be changed or newly built?
- By when do you need the documents?
Rather speak to someone +49 170 2452 777
From the first call to handover
Five steps, with the same person responsible throughout.
Enquiry and documents
You describe the project and send what exists. We tell you what is still missing.
Site visit in Waldfeucht
We look at the building or the plot and survey the existing fabric where drawings are missing.
Concept and preliminary sizing
We fix the structure, size it provisionally and agree the construction with you and the architect.
Certifiable calculation and drawings
Structural calculation, item drawings, formwork and reinforcement drawings go to the checking engineer and the authority.
Shell construction and handover
On request we build the shell, coordinate the trades and close with the handover.
A design before the first stone
The structural concept becomes a spatial model. You see proportion, facade and the order of the windows while changes still cost nothing.
Click to enlarge
At home in the Selfkant
Waldfeucht lies between the Wurm and the Meuse, right on the Dutch border. We work across the whole municipality and in the rest of the Kreis Heinsberg.
Villages and neighbouring municipalities
- Waldfeucht
- Haaren
- Bocket
- Braunsrath
- Selsten
- Frilinghoven
- Obspringen
- Brüggelchen
- Schöndorf
- Selfkant
- Gangelt
- Heinsberg
Short distances are not a comfort in structural work, they are an advantage in coordination. A site visit inside our own district needs no long journey, and whoever calls reaches the same person who did the calculation.
Frequent questions
What clients from Waldfeucht ask us most often.
Does an extension in Waldfeucht need a structural calculation?
As soon as you touch the way loads travel, or build new, a proof of structural stability is required. For the building application it has to be certifiable. We prepare it and supply the drawings that belong with it.
There are no drawings left for our house. Is that still possible?
Yes. That is exactly our focus. We survey the building on site, derive how the loads travel today and calculate the planned condition. Missing or incomplete records are not an obstacle.
How quickly will I hear back?
We come back to you after your enquiry and agree the next steps personally. How quickly the documents are ready depends on the scope. We name that date before you commission anything.
Do you carry out the shell construction yourselves?
Yes. Earthworks, masonry and reinforced concrete we carry out as the main building trade. Calculation and execution from one house save the coordination between two firms.
What does a structural calculation cost?
That depends on the building and the scope. Describe the project and send any drawings or photographs you have, and you receive an offer with a clear scope of work.
Do you also design commercial and industrial buildings?
Yes. Alongside demanding building construction we work on special structures such as industrial buildings. For steel structures we prepare the concept, the certifiable calculation and details suited to erection.
Call us, someone answers
A short question needs no form. Say what you have in mind and we will tell you whether and how it works.
Mobile
+49 170 2452 777
Office, landline
+49 2452 97 89 023
Email
info@bauen-heinsberg.de
Office
Ostpromenade 89, 52525 Heinsberg