When expansion of a freeway caused a building owner to condemn parts of an office complex, they contacted a local architectural/engineering (A/E) firm to design modifications to the complex so that it was still leasable. Although the A/E firm designed the permanent fix for the building, they left designing the temporary means of stability during construction to the contractor. Due to the complexity of the building configuration, the contractor was not interested in taking that risk. The A/E firm retained TSA to investigate the existing structure, and design temporary measures to support the structure between demolition of the existing framing and installation of permanent framing modifications.
During our investigations, TSA discovered that portions of the building that were scheduled to remain were structurally dependent on other portions of the structure that were designated for demolition. To avert this dangerous condition, TSA developed a special reinforcing design. Finally, TSA performed construction monitoring to ensure the work was carried out in general accordance with the design.
