San Francisco's Tall Buildings Study - Seismic Effects and Geotechnical Considerations

A recent article in the New York Times, At Risk in a Big Quake: 39 of San Francisco’s Top High Rises, "includes a list of buildings that are potentially vulnerable to a large quake." The San Francisco Bay Area is in seismic zone and those who live and work in the area are likely aware of that fact.

In light of the potential for seismic activity, The City and County of San Francisco's Office of Resilience and Capital Planning is in the process of producing a report on the subject of seismic effects on tall buildings in San Francisco, as well as geotechnical considerations related to tall buildings.

BOMA San Francisco, through our Codes and Regulations Committee, participated in the first stakeholder meeting on March 6, 2018 that provided an overview of the Tall Building Study and learned more about the team's progress to date. The team leading the Study from Stanford University and the private sector, also provided an overview of their effort at the March Codes and Regulations Committee.

The Study is expected to be completed in October 2018.

The report will:

• Clearly characterize the issues and available information;
• Propose regulatory and procedural recommendations where appropriate to the subject studied;
• Scope out future work items.

The work under this project will be performed under the six tasks, detailed below, and compiled in the report.

• Task 1: Seismic Performance Characterization of Existing Tall Buildings 
• This task is developing an inventory for purposes of establishing the broad scope and context of tall buildings in San Francisco.
• Task 2: Tall Building Effects 
• This task summarizes seismic risks with tall buildings with recommendations for new policy and further research. 
• Task 3: Standards for Post- Earthquake Structural Evaluation
• Task 4: Barriers to Reoccupancy of Tall Buildings
• Task 5: Costs and Benefits of Higher Performance Goals for New Construction
• Task 6: Geotechnical Engineering for Tall Buildings 
• This task will review and compile best practices in geotechnical engineering that could apply in San Francisco.

Please contact johnb@boma.com with any questions you may have.