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Waltham, Mass. — Dec. 2, 2015 — The U.S. Resiliency Council (USRC) recently launched its Earthquake Building Rating System, which allows building owners to understand expected levels of performance in earthquakes. To support this first-of-its-kind performance rating system, the national engineering firm Simpson Gumpertz & Heger (SGH) committed significant resources to the inaugural effort.
Several SGH employees contributed to launching the council and developing the new rating system. Most significantly, SGH staff consultant Ron Mayes is USRC’s co-founder and acting executive director. In addition, several SGH engineers are certified rating professionals, who conduct seismic evaluations and guide users through the system. SGH is also a founding member of USRC.
According to Glenn Bell, SGH chief executive officer, “SGH is a proud supporter of USRC and the Earthquake Building Rating System. It is an important new and consistent way for owners, residents, users, and other key stakeholders to understand and compare seismic risk. By providing a reliable and transparent way to assess a building’s expected performance during an earthquake, the system helps users make more informed decisions. We look forward to ongoing contributions to the council as it further defines resiliency performance.”
In time, the USRC intends to expand its resiliency ratings to include other natural hazards such as hurricanes, tornadoes, and floods.
The USRC includes 64 founding members made up of the leading professional organizations in earthquake and structural engineering, many large and small structural engineering firms, architects, contractors, and hardware and software suppliers. The council’s mission is to establish and implement meaningful rating systems that describe the performance of buildings during earthquakes and other natural hazard events, to educate the general public to understand these risks, and to thereby improve societal resilience. For more information, please visit www.usrc.org.
