Since Los Angeles County purchased one of the tallest skyscrapers in downtown Los Angeles, questions about whether the building could be vulnerable to huge damage.
County officials agreed to study the matter. But officials now declined to disclose a preliminary report that could shed light on earthquake safety issues, namely whether the county should undergo expensive renovations to make it more reliable in the wake of a major earthquake.
This puts the public in the darkness – including those currently working there and in neighboring buildings – findings on reports on taxpayer-funded. The report provides a deeper look at the greater security of other “steel-arm frame buildings” in Los Angeles’ cityscape.
County Public Works Director Mark Pestreella said he expected Gas Co. Tower, 555 5th Street, to survive even the most powerful earthquake at a public meeting this summer, and supervisors said they believe it was beyond safety requirements.
But others still have real questions about whether the skyscraper suffered undetected damage during the 1994 North Mountain earthquake and whether another earthquake would have caused the tower to be so damaged that it was unavailable as the headquarters of the nation’s largest county.
On September 5, county legal counsel denied the Times' requirements for earthquake reporting on Gas Towers and cited the exemptions listed in the California Public Records Act. The earthquake report mentioned in a Nov. 6 document that it was recommended that the county purchase the building, and officials said they agreed with the report's findings and recommendations, but did not elaborate on what they were.
The decision to refuse to publish the report was because some elected officials suggested they do not support the renovation, which had an initial estimated cost of $230 million. That exceeded the purchase price of the 52-story building the county bought for $200 million in December, and is only one-third of the value of the large depoly before the building.
The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted on August 12 to immediately suspend any work related to the earthquake's transformation of skyscrapers.
“We are in some of the financial straits in the county,” Supervisor Hilda Solis said at the board meeting. “What I want to make sure is that we are also doing more surgery on how we spend money.”
The county is facing financial turmoil due to rising labor costs, $4 billion in sexual abuse solutions, and huge federal funding. CEO Fesia Davenport stressed at the August 12 meeting that the earthquake escalation will not be paid for unless the supervisor agrees, and said she believes the county does not need to upgrade into the building.
The county is expected to have about 300 employees in the building by the end of this year.
“Safety is non-negotiable, and my understanding is that the building has exceeded safety requirements,” Supervisor Lindsey Horvath said at the meeting. “In fact, it will currently have the highest standards for any county building.”
The county’s legal counsel denied the Times’ request, the county “is still considering the expected construction contract.”
“As the process is underway and the decision to whether the contract has not been awarded, the earthquake report has not been disclosed at this time,” they wrote.
The county also described the report as a confidential “lawyer work product” and a “preliminary draft” that is being “updated through new discoveries.” Officials immediately disclosed the report, “will damage the tender process for forward-looking seismic transformation projects.”
Some structural engineers believe they are concerned that gas companies may be damaged so badly in a major earthquake that it will be useless for county officials.
Moreover, if the competent committee does not allow further seismic research on the building, the county will not be able to identify the potential risks of not carrying out the renovation work.
Considering its year of construction, “this particular building – the steel-arm framed building – has problems,” said David Cocke, former president of the Institute for Seismic Engineering and founder of the Company’s Structural Focus, a former president of the Institute for Seismic Engineering and founder of Gardena’s Structural Focus.
The Gas Co. Tower, built in 1991, never required strict inspections for damage after a 6.7 Northridge earthquake amplitude. Gas Co. Tower incorporates a “steel arm frame” in part of its structural system.
Such a frame consists of horizontal beams and vertical columns and has rectangular skeletons. The building of the steel arm frame relies on the connection between the horizontal beam and the vertical column to remain intact during earthquake shaking, keeping the skeletons of the building together.
During the Northridge earthquake in 1994, engineers were shocked to discover severe damage to certain steel-arm frame buildings. Temblor severely damaged 25 such structures, including the brand new car club at the then-San Santa Clarita Southern California building, almost collapsed.
Northridge “shows us that connections are vulnerable to disruption,” Cork said.
The city of Los Angeles needs to conduct inspections and repairs to the San Fernando Valley if necessary. But while the area has also been subjected to quite a bit of shock, the city never needed buildings in the city.
During Northridge, some steel buildings in Los Angeles suffered so much damage that their “posts were half broken.” Cork said.
An in-depth study of Gas Co. Tower will examine whether the steel skeleton of the building has suffered any damage during Northridge.
Gas Co. Tower does have some structural advantages. It has not only a steel arm frame, but also a supportive core. Cork said he hasn't seen the structure of the tower yet, but overall, the configuration is “possibly performing.” [better] It is more than just a steel arm frame equivalent building. ”
“I don't think it's going to collapse, it's just my opinion,” Cork said. “But I can say with confidence that in a big earthquake, they won't be able to use the buildings unless they do the transformation.”
According to Cork, building regulations used when building towers are built do not necessarily meet today’s standards. Overall, such buildings only need to be built to the standard of “safety of life” – meaning that occupants can crawl to safety, although the structure itself may be damaged.
“The building they purchased will provide some life safety, but there is no guarantee that it will remain open and the county will serve the public unless they do this transformation.” California.
County officials reiterated in a letter in September that they did recommend a voluntary earthquake transformation to “improve buildings as current engineering standards,” but suggested that the initial estimate of the cost of the transformation was only a difficult one. To increase the price tag, the county public works department is soliciting bids for construction and engineering design, project management and pre-pre-build services.
This is similar to the process of determining the actual cost of seismic transformations by Kenneth Hahn Executive Hall (the county’s existing headquarters), “which represents industry best practices to establish seismic transformation costs,” the county’s CEO’s office said.
The county said the Public Works Department had received recommendations for design and pre-construction work, “but not yet open,” and the county said that “this work is now on hold” due to the commission's August 12 vote.
County officials said they would not be able to provide a better cost estimate unless they understand “the actual situation of the connection and welding of the building.” Essentially, the steel frames of buildings are interconnected areas.
The county’s CEO’s office insists that Gas Co. Tower is already safe and that any earthquake escalation is “proactive.” The estimated cost of renovating a new building is also much cheaper than the $1 billion required to upgrade the Executive Hall, a non-ductile concrete building built in 1960 and prone to collapse during a major earthquake.
County Public Works Director Pestrella said at a meeting of the oversight committee that he expects the tower to survive even the most powerful earthquakes. He said that at level 8 or above, most buildings in the city center will see all their glass broken, and major casualties may be due to descent debris rather than collapsed buildings.
“In the building itself, you'll be so shaky that people can be accidentally hurt by objects falling into the building itself,” he told the board. “But the structure itself should be executed. It's designed to execute and stay standing.”
There is no need to renovate gas companies under city laws. However, Los Angeles, behind other cities in Southern California, needs to be upgraded to such buildings.
Torrance, Santa Monica and West Hollywood all need to evaluate steel-arm frame buildings and refurbish if necessary.
“Many of these buildings have not been modified yet and may be vulnerable to similar severe structural damage and even construction collapses in major earthquakes,” the city of Torrance warned.
According to the US Geological Survey simulation, it is reasonable that five steel-arm frame buildings (including about 5,000 people) could completely collapse in the 7.8 earthquake of the San Andreas fault.
Ten of these buildings could be severely damaged and they will be “red labeled”, meaning no one can enter them.
The 2015 renovation law of Los Angeles City does cover wood framed apartments and fragile “non-ductile” concrete buildings, but elected officials chose not to include steel bullet buildings, partly because they feared costs and partly because the buildings were seen as urgently in need of restoration.
Still, even the collapse of a steel skyscraper is disastrous. The highest member of the California skyline has never been tested on the giants – within the magnitude of 7.9 earthquakes that last shocked Southern California and 1906 Northern California.
The county is underway to conduct preliminary assessments involving limited testing and inspection of various parts of the Gasta welded steel frame. It is estimated that this will cost $200,000 and will be paid with income from tenants who are still renting space in the building.
“We estimate that the work will be completed in about three months. This work will not delay the relocation of county employees and will enhance our understanding of previously performed seismic assessment work so that we can better quantify the cost of seismic transformation and make appropriate recommendations,” a letter to the supervisory committee on September 2 read.
But short-term testing alone is not enough to determine a more refined estimate of the cost of the transformation, the county CEO’s office said.