With many of the buildings on the University of Oregon campus approaching the century mark, not only are many of them ready for an upgrade but they are in need of seismic reinforcement to prepare for the inevitable earthquake.
The “megathrust” earthquake, which has been predicted to hit the Cascadia subduction zone within the next 50 years, could have a magnitude of 9.0. Additionally, Scott Ashford from Oregon State University told The Oregonian that while shaking usually lasts 30 seconds, this earthquake could cause shaking from three to five minutes.
According to the Oregon Resilience Plan, the state’s infrastructure will remain poorly prepared for threats unless action is taken. To help reach these goals, the Deferred Maintenance Project at the UO is enabling significant improvements to the mechanical, plumbing and electrical systems in the buildings as well as ensuring safety protocols are being met for when an earthquake occurs.
“From a response standpoint, I would say we are actually ahead of the curve,” said Andre Le Duc, executive director for Enterprise Risk Services at the university. “Compared to a lot of campuses we actually have a full incident management team who are trained to respond to all types of crises or emergencies.”
Along with these more prominent projects, upgrades are being made to various safety concerns such as fire alarms, sprinklers and exit pathways.
“When we are doing these comprehensive renovations, we try to make improvements to the functional spaces within the buildings in order to better suit the programs that occupy the buildings,” said Darin Dehle, director of capital construction. “This process of upgrading buildings will be ongoing. … As funding is available we will continue with further renovations.”
As construction on Straub Hall is currently underway, many other buildings on campus have gone through extensive renovations for seismic purposes. Peterson, Anstett and Fenton halls in addition to the Central Power Station have all gone through complete renovation to ensure stability for when an earthquake hits. Additionally the brick veneer on the outside of both PLC and Chiles Hall were both done to ensure current seismic standards were met.
“We are looking at every opportunity to improve the fundamental aspects of the buildings, making the buildings more efficient and more green.” Le Duc said. “We are also making sure that we are building to the highest building code standards which includes the seismic remodel.”
The seismic standards are provided by the National Institute of Standards and Technology and are based on the effective national code that applies, the location of the project, the type of occupancy and any special seismic factors specific to the building.
Steve Mital, UO director of sustainability explained that university staff presented what they thought to be several safety issues at multiple Oregon universities as stated in the Oregon legislature. This provided them with funding and permission to take action for renovation.
“UO has indeed targeted some buildings for seismic upgrades,” Mital said. “This kind of work often requires getting into the guts of a building which is very expensive. It presents a good opportunity to do energy efficiency and conservation upgrades at the same time.”