Seismic Retrofit Guidelines 2020 Edition (SRG2020) Workshop

While SRG2020 will replace SRG3 and be in force following the May 5, 2023 workshop, there are seismic retrofit projects that are proceeding to the project definition phase now. Any engineers initiating Seismic Project Identification Reports (SPIRs) for school seismic projects before February 10, 2023, are urged to contact Phillip Chambers, Technical Review Board Manager at 250.216.8906, or at [email protected] for advice and direction on how to proceed. This applies to all projects, but is of greater importance for projects located on Vancouver Island or Haida Gwaii.

Workshop Agenda

Presenters

Jim Alkins, P.Eng. (Non-Practising)

Alkins Project Services Inc.

Jim Alkins has over 30 years of experience with BC School Districts responsible for operations and maintenance, long-range facilities planning, project development, design, construction, and project management. He has been involved with the Seismic Mitigation Program since 2005 and became a member of the TRB in 2007 when he was seconded to the Ministry of Education to oversee the Provincial Capital Program for a year. In 2008 he started Alkins Project Services and has assisted 17 school districts with their capital plans and completion of seismic upgrade and new construction projects. Jim has a Bachelor of Engineering degree from the Royal Military College and a Master of Science in Engineering degree from the University of New Brunswick. As of 2022 Jim has become a P.Eng. (Non-Practising).

Alexander Angus

Ministry of Education

Alexander has been involved with the seismic program throughout his 5 years with the Capital Branch, and is currently the Ministry’s lead for SMP. Prior to working for the Province Alexander spent 10 years designing municipal transportation infrastructure. Outside of work Alexander’s time is mostly spent at the rink coaching his kids and playing men’s league.  

Dr. Armin Bebamzadeh, P.Eng.

University of British Columbia

Dr. Armin Bebamzadeh, P.Eng., is an active structural engineer and a research associate at the Earthquake Engineering Research Facility at UBC. He has more than 15 years of experience in structural analysis and performance-based design and has worked with various structural engineering firms and participated in several Canadian projects. Since 2009, Dr. Bebamzadeh has collaborated with researchers at UBC and industry professionals from the Engineers and Geoscientists BC in the development of innovative and cost-effective seismic assessment and retrofit guidelines, entitled Seismic Retrofit Guidelines. He has more than 100 technical papers and reports related to the seismic behaviour of structures, and has also developed several tools to facilitate the seismic performance-based design of buildings.

Phillip Chambers

Phillip Chambers Consulting Ltd.

Mr. Chambers is a consultant that has been working with the Engineers and Geoscientists BC team on the Ministry of Education’s Seismic Mitigation Program since 2015. Prior to 2015 Phillip was the Regional Director with the Ministry of Education responsible for delivering the SMP for 7 years. With Engineers and Geoscientists BC, Phillip is the Technical Review Board Manager, and also acts as a liaison between the Engineers and Geoscientists BC team and the Ministry of Education. Over the past 7 years, Phillip has also worked with a number of school districts with a primary focus on developing Project Definition Reports for seismic projects, as well as acting as the project lead during the implementation of capital projects.

Ayse Hortacsu  

Applied Technology Council (ATC)

Ayse is Director of Projects at the Applied Technology Council (ATC), a non-profit structural engineering organization headquartered in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is originally from Istanbul, Turkey and has lived in California since moving there to study engineering at Stanford University in 1996. Over her 15 years at ATC, she has managed projects on various structural engineering issues that have resulted in over 50 publications to date. She has also conducted post-earthquake field reconnaissance after the 2023 Turkey-Syria earthquakes, as well as Nepal (2015), Napa California (2014), Haiti (2010), and Izmit, Turkey (1999) earthquakes.

She is currently serving as a Director for the Earthquake Engineering Research Institute (EERI) and served in similar roles for the Structural Engineers Association of Northern California (SEAONC) and EERI Northern California Chapter. She is also the founder of Women in Structural Engineering, and a founding member of the Structural Engineering Equity and Engagement (SE3) Committee of SEAONC.

Zachary May

Building and Safety Standards Branch

Zachary May is the Executive Director of the Building and Safety Standards Branch, where he leads the team responsible for British Columbia’s building and technical safety regulatory systems. He has led several national and provincial building code initiatives, including the development of the BC Energy Step Code. He is the Chair of the BC Energy Step Code Council and a former member of the National Research Council’s Standing Committee on Housing and Small Buildings, and the Standing Committee on Energy Efficiency.

Eric Millette

Ministry of Education

Eric has 10 years of experience working in both the private and public sectors. He has spent 8 of these years working as a civil engineer in a consulting environment and the balance working with the Ministry of Education and Child Care as a Capital Planning Officer. In his spare time, Eric enjoys bouldering and going for hikes in nature.

Andy Mill, P.Eng., Struct.Eng., FEC

David Nairne + Associates Ltd. (DNA)

Mr. Mill is a professional engineer and designated structural engineer licensed by Engineers and Geoscientists BC, as well as a Fellow of Engineers Canada. Andy is Chief Operating Officer in the architecture, engineering, and planning firm of David Nairne + Associates Ltd. and has over 30 years of structural engineering experience. He has had the privilege to sit on Engineers and Geoscientists BC's Council and numerous committees including Chair of the Seismic Peer Review Committee since its inception in 2004.

Peter Mitchell, P.Eng., FEC

Engineers and Geoscientists BC

As the Director, Professional Practice, Standards & Development, Professional Practice, Peter is responsible for overseeing Engineers and Geoscientists BC’s proactive quality assurance programs that support registrants in meeting their professional practice requirements under the Professional Governance Act. These include the development of professional practice guidelines and standards, the audit and practice review program, the regulation of firms program, the practice advice program and the continuing education program. In addition, Peter provides staff support to numerous advisory groups, task forces, and panels dealing with a wide range of professional practice issues and directs the organization’s response to various government legislation impacting the practice of professional engineering and geoscience in BC.

Dr. Mehrtash Motamedi, P.Eng.

University of British Columbia

Dr. Mehrtash Motamedi, P.Eng., is Research Associate and Engineering Manager of the Department of Civil Engineering at the University of British Columbia. He is an expert in seismic design and retrofitting of structures, and has more than 20 years of experience in experimental research projects in earthquake and structural engineering area. He currently manages the Earthquake Engineering Research Facility research and experimental testing projects in the Earthquake Laboratory and Structural Engineering Laboratory. His focus is on shake table and field ambient vibration tests. Dr. Motamedi closely collaborates with professionals from the Engineers and Geoscientists of British Columbia to provide the supportive testing materials for the innovative retrofit guidelines for school buildings titled, Seismic Retrofit Guidelines. As part of these guidelines, Dr. Motamedi has coordinated several testing programs to generate the unique test data and verification for analytical models used for the performance-based seismic assessment and retrofit design of low-rise school buildings in BC.

Dr. Farzad Naeim

Farzad Naeim, Inc.

Farzad Naeim is President of Farzad Naeim, Inc., and a Professor of Engineering Practice at UCI. He received his PhD in civil engineering in 1982 from USC and his J.D. with highest honors from Concord Law School of Purdue University Global in 2002. He is a registered California civil and structural engineer, a member of California bar, and a patent attorney. He was elected to the U.S. National Academy of Engineering in 2022. Farzad is recipient of the 2007 Fazlur Khan Medal for lifetime achievements in seismic design of tall buildings, the 2017 Bruce Bolt Medal jointly awarded by SSA, EERI, and COSMOS for worldwide contributions to seismic safety, and 2021 George Hounser Medal, EERI’s highest honor for extraordinary and lasting contributions to bridging the gap between earthquake engineering research and practice.

Lee Rowley, P.Eng., FEC

Herold Engineering Ltd.

Lee Rowley is Managing Principal of Herold Engineering Limited. Herold Engineering is a well-diversified Vancouver-Island-based consulting civil and structural engineering company which has worked on a significant number of school seismic upgrading projects on Vancouver Island. Lee is a member of the Steering Committee for the Technical Review Board of the school seismic upgrading program.

Adam Silvester, P.Eng.

Thurber Engineering

Mr. Silvester is a geotechnical engineer for Thurber Engineering in Vancouver, BC. After completing his education at Queen’s University and the University of British Columbia, he has collected over 6 years of consulting experience in civil engineering projects. His expertise includes liquefaction triggering, seismic numerical modelling, and dike engineering. He is working in close collaboration with Paul Wilson and John Sherstobitoff on the ongoing development of the Liquefaction Guidelines, Volume 11.

John Sherstobitoff , P.Eng.

Ausenco Engineering Canada Inc.

Mr. Sherstobitoff is a structural engineer with over 35 years of experience, focusing on seismic upgrade projects since 1990. As Principal, Seismic and Structures, at Ausenco, he is the corporate seismic specialist. John was the chair of the Standing Committee on Earthquake Design for 10 years and continues as a committee member (committee responsible for seismic provisions for NBCC 2015 and 2020), chair for its working group regarding base isolation and damping (new clauses in NBCC 2015) and chair for its task group on resilience and performance based design (new provisions in NBCC 2020).

Dr. Graham Taylor, P.Eng.

TBG Seismic Consultants Ltd.

Graham Taylor is a practising structural consulting engineer who has specialized in seismic engineering over the past 30 years. Graham has been the engineer-of-record for the seismic retrofit of 9 schools for the Greater Victoria School District. Graham’s seismic engineering practice has been a combination of practice innovation and applied research. Graham’s applied research experience includes the 17 year Seismic Mitigation Program (BC Ministry of Education) and more than 20 years of collaboration with the University of British Columbia (UBC) on a range of applied research projects. Graham is a lead member of the Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia TRB Steering Committee for the Seismic Mitigation Program.

Dr. Carlos Ventura, P.Eng.

University of British Columbia

Dr. Carlos Ventura is currently the Director of the Earthquake Engineering Research Facility at UBC and has more than 35 years of experience as a structural engineer. Dr. Ventura’s areas of research are in structural dynamics and earthquake engineering. He has been conducting research on the dynamic behavior and analysis of structural systems subjected to extreme dynamic loads, including severe ground shaking for more than 20 years. Research developments have included development and implementation of performance-based design methods for seismic retrofit of low-rise school buildings, novel techniques for regional estimation of damage to structures during earthquakes, detailed studies on nonlinear dynamic analysis of structures and methods to evaluate the dynamic characteristics of large civil engineering structures. His current research is focused on the development of performance-based guidelines for seismic retrofit of schools, on methods to evaluate the interaction between critical infrastructure vulnerable to natural and man-made hazards, and on structural health monitoring of building, bridges, and dams.

Chris Weech, P.Eng.

Thurber Engineering Ltd.

Mr. Weech is a senior project engineer, project manager, and review engineer for Thurber Engineering in Victoria, BC, with 23 years of experience in civil engineering projects. He has particular expertise in soft soils engineering, deep foundations, and seismic design. He is currently working on developing seismic site response analysis procedures that are compatible with the new seismic hazard model adopted by the 2020 National Building Code of Canada. He is currently a member of the Technical Review Board Steering Committee for the seismic retrofit of schools under the BC Seismic Mitigation Program and is also a member of the Task Group on Seismicity and Site Amplification for the 2025 Edition of the National Building Code of Canada.

Dr. Tim White, P.Eng.

Bush, Bohlman & Partners

Originally from Ontario, Tim moved to Vancouver in 1999 to pursue a doctorate in civil engineering at the University of British Columbia. After completing his PhD, Tim joined the UBC research team which were developing the earliest versions of the Seismic Retrofit Guidelines. In 2007 Tim was lured away from academia into the world of consulting engineering. Tim is a Partner at Bush, Bohlman where he spends much of his time working on the assessment, renovation, and retrofit of existing buildings.