The pandemic caused by the Covid-19 virus has brought about great change to our way of life and work. After many months of suspended activity, restarting can finally be taken into consideration. But is opening the doors of businesses long closed enough to begin anew in complete safety? The architect Barbara Tè, founder and leader of the BM Engineering firm, explains how reopening diverse businesses can be achieved while maintaining adequate levels of safety.
Reopening businesses
“In this difficult moment we are going through – explains Barbara Tè – we at BM Engineering are doing our part to facilitate reopening in hopes that it occurs as soon as possible. The reprisal of commercial activity involves certainly many sectors, but in particular that of tourism and hospitality, as Italy is THE tourist destination par excellence, loved and visited by both Italians and foreigners the world over. The hospitality industry will be among those at the forefront of this reprisal, but must face the problem of having their respective businesses closed for over a year. We at BM Engineering can work alongside our clients, offering an in-depth analysis of the status of a given structure”.
Practical Case of a Hotel Reopening: An Analysis
“The task of analyzing a hotel that had been closed for 15 months was requested by a client. -explains Barbara Tè- We found ourselves facing electrical and heating systems that had been offline for quite some time. As is well known, problems can arise when restarting infrastructural systems that have been dormant for extended periods of time. Arriving on the scene, we began by investigating every centimetre, examining electric circuit boards with thermal imaging, inspecting suspended ceilings, opening each and every room to verify the status of the water systems. Naturally, security systems were also taken into consideration, by testing smoke detectors and their interaction with the control unit, in order to assess the functionality of the fire-fighting measures such as water sprinklers. We even cut off power to the building in sections, to observe the status of emergency lighting.”
What were the following steps?
“What was performed was a complete practical and technical audit alongside the client. – continues the Architect- Seven experts completed this analysis, divided into different groups and assigned to specific areas of the building, as it was quite expansive, to ascertain each aspect. After this comprehensive inspection, we consigned to the client a timetable with which to plan required investments and renovation work, in order to be ready by the established reopening date”.
How to reopen an “e-commerce” business?
Our purchasing habits have greatly changed during the pandemic: in many cases we have become accustomed to purchasing online that which we require and various commercial enterprises cannot avoid such an integral aspect.
How to simplify reopening a business by means of a digital presence? Once again, the architect Barbara Tè replies: “In regards to commercial businesses, we are assisting our clients – from the largest to the smallest- by modifying their enterprises in order to perform business on internet platforms as well. In this case, one of our tasks is to reorganize their storefronts to accommodate digital sales by including a stocking area dedicated exclusively to the latter.”
Every business venture has its own unique characteristics, requirements and quirks: together with BM Engineering identifying the best way to reopen in complete safety while observing all the necessary legal requirements becomes painless.
