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Los Angeles Jumps on Board with Soft Story retrofitting ordinance

According to the Los Angeles Daily News (“Apartment retrofit law advances at Los Angeles City Hall,” posted on 10/7/15), the Los Angeles City Council’s Housing Committee passed a retrofitting proposal Wednesday that will affect 13,500 soft story buildings. The proposal is expected to be approved by the full City Council when it meets Friday. Under the law being […]

Berkeley Expands Financing Options for Soft Story Building Owners

According to the Daily Californian (“Expansion of Berkeley financing program to ease costs of seismic retrofitting,” posted on 8/18/15), soft story building owners can now access PACE, Property Accessed Clean Energy, funds to help ease the cost burden of undergoing a retrofit of their buildings. PACE financing allows property owners to borrow the money necessary […]

EQ IQ

If haven’t read this month’s New Yorker article about the Cascade fault that spans from Vancouver down to Northern California (http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2015/07/20/the-really-big-one), you definitely should.  It’s a fascinating read and has a lot of useful information, especially in the light of a little jolt that we had this morning.  Here are some take aways from the […]

Enginious Structures are now certified via AllianceNRG

After a rigorous review, AllianceNRG who partnered with the city of San Francisco to administer a 100% public financing options for the soft story apartment building owners, has certified Enginious Structures as one of the few engineering firms that are allowed  to participate in this program.  As part of the process, AllianceNRG verified licensing, workers comp, […]

Whole lot of shaking going on

The San Francisco Bay Area had a 2.4 earthquake today, 11 earthquakes this past week and 633 earthquakes over the past year. We may not always be aware shifting plates beneath our feet, but they are on the move. Don’t be caught unprepared when the big one hits. Protect your family and your investment with […]

San Francisco Soft Story Retrofit Program, Update

San Francisco has seen an overwhelming 92% of buildings come into full compliance with the screening portion of the Soft Story Retrofit Ordinance.  Property owners were given a year to complete the initial screening forms which would determine if a building would be subject to the Mandatory Soft Story Retrofit Program.  Starting next week, the […]

San Francisco Private School Seismic Ordinance Approved

Mayor Edwin M. Lee introduced the Private School Earthquake Safety Ordinance, which will require the seismic evaluation of 120 private K-12 schools in San Francisco over the next three years.  After careful review and public outreach engaging school administrators, design professionals and parents, we are pleased to announce that the Ordinance was unanimously approved by […]

Napa wake up call!

The U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) estimated in 2007 that there is a 63% probability of at least one magnitude 6.7 or greater quake, capable of causing widespread damage, striking the San Francisco Bay region before 2030. There is a 67% probability of a similarly sized earthquake striking the Southern California region within the same period. […]

Private schools in SF require seismic engineering evaluation

The Private Schools Earthquake Safety Working Group, comprised of volunteer parents, school representatives, other interested persons, and City staff presented a report that resulted in having a new legislation introduced requiring all Private Schools to perform a seismic evaluation by 2017.   Buildings within the scope of the ordinance to be evaluated at one of […]

Video of Simulated Soft-Story Building Collapse due to Earthquake

In the following video clip, engineers test a soft-story building with a 6.7 magnitude simulated earthquake to determine the effects of a large earthquake on buildings with a soft-story condition. The results are quite dramatic, as the bottom floor of the building collapses, and the building topples sideways. Click on the link below to watch […]