Seismic Strengthening

Earthquake strengthening, Wellington and beyond

At Petone Engineering we are specialists in the seismic strengthening of buildings.

High-rise Apartment Buildings and Offices

We pride ourselves at being the specialists in the area of seismic strengthening of buildings.

Seismic strengthening of older buildings can involve additional variables and uncertainty, some of which you only discover once you start the work.

On some projects, the apartment buildings are vacant and the internal fit has been stripped out before we start work.

On other jobs, the steel frames need to be installed around the internal fit, with care taken to minimise damage as we work.

We have also done work on seismic strengthening in apartment buildings that are already occupied, fitting in and working around tenants as needed.

Getting access can be an issue. With lots of doors and corridors, some lateral thinking is needed around how to get the frames into the building and in the design of the frames themselves to make installation easier. This is one of the areas where using a fabricator/installer with experience makes all the difference.

Commercial & Industrial Buildings

We are also one of the leading experts in seismic strengthening of commercial and industrial buildings in the Wellington region.

Some of the challenges we faced are dealing with mixtures of construction materials including un-reinforced brick, timber, concrete, steel and often several generations of old earthquake strengthening.

Ingenuity and lateral thinking is applied to get steelwork inside the building to be installed where access can be an issue.

We have also worked on buildings that were used during the day, we have installed the seismic frames at night, room by room, floor by floor, leaving each area usable the next day

Benefits of Automation

A high degree of flexibility around installation options needs to be designed and built around steel works when it comes to seismic upgrade projects.

Making frames easier to install on site often requires additional work during steel fabrication, especially when adding unusual slots and holes, to fixing brackets.

Our CNC bandsaw and our CNC beamline, one of the very few in Wellington, makes these installations quicker, being accurate and economical.

Quality Assurance

Petone Engineering is one of the few Wellington companies to have been awarded Steel Fabricator Certification (SFC) from Steel Construction New Zealand.

This certification recognises a commitment by the recipient to quality management, with assurance of minimum risk. You can be assured that your job will be performed to the highest level.

At the completion of every project, we provide a Quality Assurance package with all relevant documents for the consultant and council compliance.

Learn more about Steel Fabricator Certification here.