Existing buildings are often vulnerable to damage in earthquakes, because when they were designed, they did not have the benefit of the knowledge we now have and is inherent in our current Standards. This is particularly true of heritage buildings and in New Zealand our legislation has requirements with respect of high-risk buildings (which we term Earthquake-Prone Buildings) that require assessment and strengthening works to be undertaken within prescribed timeframes. However, outside of these requirements many building owners choose to undertake assessment and strengthening of their buildings to proactively manage their risks, both seismic and commercial.

Increasingly, building owners are becoming aware of the large carbon emissions that result from demolishing an existing building to build back new. In this context, the greenest building is the one that already exists and enabling the adaptive re-use of existing building is becoming increasingly desirable. For these types of projects, an in-depth understanding of the vulnerabilities of the building and working closely with the wider design team to develop a sympathetic strengthening scheme is vital to achieving the overall functional goals of the project. 

Services with Seismic Engineering that we provide include: