6/22/2021 – Seismic Solutions

At the June 22 general CCCC meeting, Tipping Structural Engineers described a new concept for reducing earthquake damage risk and adding usable space to both buildings for a much lower cost than previously projected. The areas in color on these drawings would be seismically strong additions that would serve as buttresses to stabilize the entire building. This would especially help in the Veterans Building, for which a previous retrofit proposal involved gutting the historic interior. Tipping presented two approximate costs for the new plan, based on two levels of safety and speed of return occupancy after a major quake.