Victoria Civic Heritage Trust

Now that all work for VCHT is done, and all of  the project deliverables have been completed, it’s time to sum up what we’ve done over the past three months.

The main objective of this project was to gather data regarding the seismic safety of unreinforced masonry buildings in downtown Victoria, particularly around Market Square. To achieve this, the team spent two full days in Victoria performing exterior inspection surveys of around 50 buildings. Also we were allowed interior and rooftop access to roughly a dozen buildings for more detailed surveys. We compiled all the data into a single spreadsheet and gave it to a group of UBC Geography students who mapped the information in Victoria’s GIS system.

VHCT plans on using the information we’ve gathered to inform their decisions on how to allot funds for building restorations and retrofits. Also, the City of Victoria plans on using the data to plan emergency response in the event of an earthquake, and a UBC MASc. student will the information as part of his thesis.

This project was an important lesson for all those involved in the responsibility of an engineer to the public, and in project management. Other than the technical details of masonry buildings, much was learned about project management while planning and budgeting the two trips to Victoria, and in collaborating with the multiple parties involved in the project.

Poster Project Deliverable

As our CBEL project comes to a conclusion with the poster project next week, we have been working hard to finish our deliverables. Through communication with the geography students and our mentor and contact at RJC, Brandon, we finalized what information was needed and created an excel sheet which contained data that could be used by the Victoria Civic Heritage Trust in mapping seismic risks in the downtown core. This data included soil type, building height, type of structure, history of retrofitting, as well as much more. Each team member took a section of buildings which they had inspected and input that data into a master spreadsheet, which was then forwarded to Brandon and the geography team.

Another deliverable of this project is the collection of photos taken of the buildings inspected over reading break. This has been compiled into an album and shared with Brandon via Dropbox. Below are a few examples of these images.

Image of parapet bracing in Market Square.

View of chimneys and roof tops in Market Square.

View from Yates Street parking lot.

The only issue we encountered since finishing our work in Victoria was coming to a consensus with the geography team on what information they wanted in the master spreadsheets however this was solved in a relatively short time span. All that remains for our group is showcasing the poster board and documentation assignment, due on March 25 and 28 respectively.

Although all team travel has been completed and all the data has been gathered, there is still much work to be done. This post will summarize the activities of the trip, outline what work remains to be done, and provide the safety plan which was made in case of emergency.

The team met with two students from the geography department and surveyed approximately 50 buildings in and around Market Square. All buildings were surveyed from the outside, and for several buildings interior and  rooftop inspections were performed as well. These building were 538 and 536 Yates Street, 1400 Government Street, 536-544 Pandora Street, and most of Market Square. Also, the team discussed how the data should be electronically organized to facilite the GIS mapping to be done by the geography students.

Market Square Rooftops

The next step of the project is for the team to input all the building data into one master spreadsheet, as requested by the geography team. Each team member will input the data for the buildings that they personally surveyed, as they will be most familiar with the information. The geography team will then use this spreadsheet to map the data into the City of Victoria’s GIS system. This is expected to be completed and submitted by March 13.

In the unlikely event of an emergency while in Victoria, the following safety plan was made:

Team member in charge of safety: Keith Hand

Team Headquarters: Victoria City Hall (1 Centennial Square, Victoria)

Nearest Hospital: Royal Jubilee Hospital (1952 Bay Street, Victoria)

The nearest hospital to the downtown core is the Royal Jubilee Hospital. In the event of a medical emergency, the injured team member will be transported either by ambulance or, if the situation permits, driven by another team member to the emergency room. After contacting the emergency authorities, the team members’ emergency contact will be contacted, as well as Brandon Paxton who is the mentor of the CBEL project and Dr. Susan Nesbit.

If a team member receives a non-life threatening injury which does not require them to be taken to the hospital, they will contact the designated team member in charge of safety and notify him of the injury. The team member will then travel back to Victoria City Hall with another team member. Victoria City Hall has been designated as our headquarters while working for the Victoria Civic Heritage Trust, and will also serve as a first aid station in the case of an injury.

In the event that there is a medical emergency while on the ferry, the team will immediately contact the medical staff aboard BC Ferries. In the case that it is required that the ship be abandoned, for whatever reason, the team will follow the lead of BC Ferries staff to the nearest exit point and follow their emergency procedures. If a situation arises where seismic activity occurs while the team is visiting Victoria, team members will regroup at Victoria City Hall when it is safe to do so. Team members are to find available cover as soon as possible and remain there 60 seconds after the last ground shake to be sure that the earthquake is over.

We are currently in the process of organizing our final, three day trip to Victoria’s downtown core. After meeting with Brandon Paxton last week, we received the final draft of the screening review forms, as well as a list of the heritage buildings that we will be screening. Our preparations for the trip have included:

– Filling out preliminary information on the screening forms, using Google Earth and CRD Atlas

– Booking accommodations at the Hotel Rialto

– Organizing transportation and ferries

– Discussing project management strategies with our group mentor

– Gathering equipment (measuring tapes, safety gear, scratch testing kits)

– Planning a budget with Dr. Nesbit

Below is a preliminary timeline for how the work will be carried out in Victoria:

Sunday, February 17

– 9 am ferry to Swartz Bay

– Check into hotel

– Meet with Catherine, Brandon, and Geography students

– Perform any screenings which can’t be done during regular weekday business hours

– Perform exterior inspections of buildings in project area

Monday, February 18

– Perform complete screenings of buildings in project area (exterior, interior, roof access)

Tuesday, February 19

– Continue screenings of buildings in project area

– Final consultations with VCHT

– Return to Vancouver

The area of interest for this project, centred around Market Square.

We are very excited to begin the final phase of our project and experience downtown Victoria.

We arrived back in Vancouver Friday night, after a day trip to Victoria where we received a full project overview from VCHT. Our team will be assisting in conducting a pilot project, screening and assessing the seismic risk of heritage buildings located within a target area of the downtown core of Victoria, BC. The target area currently consists of the 500 block of Johnson Street, and may be expanded if the pilot proves successful. Our trip also allowed us to meet many of the people behind the project, namely:

Catherine Umland— VCHT executive director

Brandon Paxton— Masters Student at UBC

Rob Johns—Emergency Coordinator for the City of Victoria

Stephanie Blazey – GIS technician for the City of Victoria

Leon Plett – Read Jones Christoffersen Consulting Engineers Ltd.

Chris Ryzuk—Geotechnical engineering and committee member of VCHT

The Victoria Civic Heritage Trust (VCHT) is a non-profit charitable organization that was established in 1989 by the City of Victoria. They work with the City to develop, administer and financially support programs that preserve and enhance the heritage buildings and culture of Victoria. This is accomplished through monetary incentives in the form of tax exceptions and grants to building owners that promote the seismic retrofitting of heritage buildings.

The desire to collect information on the city’s heritage buildings, most of which are unreinforced masonry buildings (URM), is directly the result of the devastation which occurred in Christchurch, New Zealand in February, 2011. The city shares many similarities with Victoria, including seismicity, architecture and construction styles, and is a reminder that resilience can only be achieved through mitigation.

There are over 200 heritage buildings in Victoria, however only approximately 25% of them have received seismic retrofits. We will be going back to Victoria on the 17^th to conduct screening reviews for the project. The desired outcomes are:

• To create a set of data that describes the seismic conditions and inventory of heritage buildings from the screening process
• To develop guidelines to use in a parapet and façade bracing pilot program
• To gather information for GIS mapping for the City of Victoria

The potential difficulties that we foresee impeding our ability to conduct thorough assessments of properties are time, building owners, and use of buildings.

We received a tour of an ongoing seismic upgrade for a URM building by Leon Plett, of RJC consulting engineers. Afterwards, we toured a completed project and saw the significant improvements between heritage buildings before and after their retrofits.

The trip was highly informative and we would like to thank the VCHT and all other presenters for their time. We look forward to our next trip to Victoria.

The Project

Victoria B.C. is located in one of the world’s most seismically active regions, and it also has a large concentration of historical, unreinforced masonry buildings in its downtown core. These types of buildings generally perform very poorly during earthquakes and therefore they are prone to damage and pose a significant risk to life.

For this reason the Victoria Civic Heritage Trust has proposed that a group of second year UBC Civil Engineering students conduct screening reviews to locate and catalog high risk building in Victoria’s downtown core. VCHT plans to use the information gathered to decide how to allocate funds for seismic retrofits.

The Team

Daniel Waine transferred to UBC Civil Engineering last year from the University of the Fraser Valley in Abbotsford. After graduation he plans on pursuing a graduate degree in Structural/Earthquake Engineering. When not busy with school he likes to lift weights and volunteer at UBC’s Earthquake Engineering lab. Daniel wil

l be in charge of writing and posting blog entries.

Greg Eng grew up in Victoria and will forever be a Victoria Salsa hockey fan. He enjoys exploring the wilderness with his dog, Champ, and travelling to remote areas of the world. Following graduation, he plans to pursue Law or Architecture. Greg will be in charge of collecting and organizing any project documentation.

Helena Trajic is a fairly normal Westcoast dweller. She loves being outside and plans to specialize in Structural Engineering so that she may design and build her own home. She is particularly fond of historical buildings as they remind her of the homes she grew up reading and rereading about as a child. Helena will be the team’s organizer.

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