RACAIA provides services for the seismic evaluation and retrofit of existing buildings, with particular depth in historic, landmark, and continuously occupied civic facilities. Our work typically begins where the owner begins — with a compliance order in hand and no clear path forward — and carries through evaluation, development of a retrofit scheme, cost validation, permitting with the Authority Having Jurisdiction (AHJ), and construction administration. We lead multidisciplinary teams that pair ASCE 41-23 structural evaluation with historic preservation, MEP, and cost-estimating expertise, so that the retrofit an owner ultimately builds satisfies the ordinance at the lowest feasible cost and with the least operational disruption.

Mandatory seismic ordinances now govern thousands of buildings across Southern California, including non-ductile concrete and wood-frame soft-story structures. Los Angeles Ordinance #183893 (Article 1, Division 95, Mandatory Earthquake Hazard Reduction in Existing Non-Ductile Concrete Buildings) applies to reinforced concrete buildings permitted before January 13, 1977, and establishes a defined compliance sequence following receipt of an Order: three years to submit proof of compliance, retrofit plans, or demolition plans; ten years to obtain a permit; and twenty-five years to complete construction. Los Angeles County has adopted parallel requirements under LACBC Chapter 97 for certain existing high-rise concrete buildings, and Santa Monica, Beverly Hills, West Hollywood, and Torrance administer their own ordinances with separate thresholds and deadlines.

Where a building is a designated historic resource — or is eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, the California Register, or a local register — retrofit design must additionally satisfy the California Historical Building Code (CHBC) and the Secretary of the Interior's Standards for the Rehabilitation of Historic Properties. Very few teams are structured to resolve both obligations in a single coordinated design effort. RACAIA is, and that combination is where we do our most valuable work: developing fixed-base retrofit alternatives that meet the required performance objective while protecting the character-defining features that make the building worth saving.