BC Housing Webinar: Improved Earthquake Performance and Resilience for New Buildings

How do we build better performing buildings to minimize the financial burden, community disruption and reduce recovery time after an earthquake? We all want buildings that are habitable and functional post-earthquake.

Explore options to improve seismic resilience. This starts at the schematic design phase, while being mindful of costs and building performance parameters.

Discussion topics will include:

• Structural design consideration for new buildings by code for earthquakes
• Review of possible revisions to Part 4 in the next National Building Code of Canada (expected to be released in late 2021)
• Building performance as a continuum relative to codes, structural design options and less conventional approaches to resilience (such as base isolation and supplemental energy dissipation)
• Metrics-based assessment of a building’s seismic performance
• Consideration of seismic instrumentation for new buildings
• Post event habitability (as affected by other structural aspects)
• Overview on how to improve seismic resilience for existing buildings
• Various studies have shown that a code level earthquake has the potential to cause a multi-billion-dollar financial impact to BC.

About the presenter:

John Sherstobitoff is a structural engineer with over 35 years of experience related to the structural and seismic analysis and design of both buildings and infrastructure. He has incorporated innovative and cost-effective methods into his designs on numerous new construction projects, as well as - renovation and seismic upgrade projects.

For 10 years he chaired the Standing Committee on Earthquake Design (SC-ED) that affects provisions in the National Building Code of Canada. Within SC-ED he is currently chair of the Performance Based and Resilient Design task group, and Seismic Isolation and Supplemental Energy Dissipation working group.