As the structural engineer for this urban redevelopment project, SDS provided the necessary documents and calculations to retrofit two buildings (14,000 and 9,000 square feet) for snow and seismic loads as required by the City of Redding.  Since there were no drawings of the original construction available, SDS measured and documented all of the structural elements.  The existing long span steel and wood trusses were retrofitted for the required 30 pounds per square foot snow load and new roof joists were added.  The retrofit for 1701 California Street was all done from beneath the roof to save a newly installed roof.  Concrete masonry unit shear walls were added at the front of both buildings.  The seismic retrofit included strengthening the concrete wall to wood roof connection and strengthening the roof diaphragm.  The floor slabs had to be lowered to make the entrances accessible. 

The most challenging part of this project was the tower.  Three columns were used because the forth column would have been located in the middle of the entrance to the building.  The existing roof structure could not support the back corner of the tower, so a cantilever truss inside the tower supports the corner for the gravity loads.  The tower is also tied to the roof with slip connections for lateral (wind and seismic) loads only.   Architect: Ronald Stevens Architect

As the civil engineer, SDS designed a reconstruction of the sidewalk, which included two city blocks to match the adjacement streetscape. The project required approval by Caltrans and the City of Redding. The reconstruction of the alley requires close coordination with the utility companies due to the existing electrical lines being placed underground. Contruction staking services were also provided by SDS.