Beca's extensive experience in earthquake engineering was instrumental in developing retrofit solutions that were technically sound, innovative, economically feasible and socially acceptable.
Istanbul has a 60% probability of experiencing a devastating earthquake in the next 30 years. Following a major earthquake in 1999, Beca International Consultants Ltd led a joint venture with Turkish engineering consultancy Prota to undertake a feasibility study to strengthen apartment buildings in the municipality of Bakırköy. The study was funded by the Government of Turkey through a World Bank loan as part of the Marmara Earthquake Emergency Reconstruction project.
During the nine month study, 369 of the most vulnerable buildings in the area were painstakingly investigated. Most of the buildings were typical of buildings across Istanbul - five to six storeys and between 20 and 40 years old, built of reinforced concrete in an era when concrete was hand mixed on site and placed by hand and often used unwashed sea sand in the concrete resulting in severe corrosion. The buildings contained approximately 4200 apartments.
The study included a review of regional seismology, geotechnical investigations, as-built condition surveys, structural analyses, earthquake performance assessment, retrofitting solutions, social impacts, and analysis of the benefits and costs of retrofitting.
Beca's extensive experience in earthquake engineering was instrumental in developing retrofit solutions that were technically sound, innovative, economically feasible and socially acceptable. The feedback from both the client and occupiers of the buildings was very positive with respect to the quality and integrity of the study's findings. Estimates suggested more than 700 lives could be saved by retrofitting the study buildings, and more than 5000 if extrapolated to the whole of Bakırköy.
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