Services
Seismic Risk Assessment of Individual and Building Portfolios
Owners of individual buildings or portfolios often require information on the financial impact (direct and indirect) of earthquake‐related damage. BECG is capable of performing seismic risk assessments of new or existing buildings, which is often necessary for financial planning and understanding the trade off among different risk mitigation (e.g. seismic enhancement) or risk transfer strategies (e.g. insurance) strategies. BECG has a high level of expertise in probabilistic earthquake risk assessments in accordance with recognized national guidelines including HAZUS and FEMA P58.
Structural Peer Review
BECG provides independent peer reviews of structures designed by other engineers. The peer review is a long‐held tradition in structural engineering practice. It is an essential part of the quality assurance process and is especially important for complex designs. Specific services include the review of design methodologies, calculations and structural drawings for new or existing buildings.
Building Seismic Rating
The United States Resiliency Council (USRC) established a rating system to describe the performance of buildings during earthquakes in a way that is useful for owners, lenders, tenants and government jurisdictions. Star ratings are provided in three dimensions: safety, repair cost and recovery. Henry Burton is a USRC‐certified seismic rating professional.
Disaster Resilience Planning
Organizations are reliant on the use of buildings and other constructed facilities to maintain their operations. When one or more of those facilities are damaged by earthquakes or other natural hazards, this can disrupt the organization’s ability to continue servicing their clients. To minimize that disruption, different technical (e.g. increasing robustness of system) and organizational (e.g. adaptation) strategies can be adopted. BECG is in a position to help clients develop a robust disaster resilient plan to minimize the impacts of natural hazard events.
Seismic Evaluation of Existing Buildings
Owners of managers of existing buildings often desire to know what type of performance to expect under varying levels of earthquake ground shaking. BECG provides both preliminary and detailed seismic evaluations of existing buildings in accordance with the ASCE‐41 Standard and FEMA P58 Guidelines. The latter includes estimates of expected economic and disruptive (building rendered unusable) impacts.
