Fyfe Plays a Major Part in the Rehabilitation of a Historic Building

OVERVIEW

The Historic Beverly Hills City Hall opened in 1932. Designed by architects William J. Gage and Harry G. Koerner and constructed by the Herbert M. Baruch Corporation. When the building was opened the Los Angeles Times said it was the “largest and most expensive City Hall of any municipality its size in the country.”

The tower of the building, which incorporates floors five to nine, was closed in 1989 due to changes in regulations surrounding seismic hazards and has now stood empty for more than three decades.

In 2018 the City Council began discussions about funding rehabilitation work, but they were postponed due to the global pandemic and budget constraints. The plan was eventually reinvigorated but with a reduced scope. Some of the previously planned interior improvements have been postponed but the structural work was approved.

Clark Construction, which has offices across the US, was awarded the contract to carry out the work and the building has recently undergone a $9 million project of repairs.

SOLUTION

The structural design on the roof incorporated demolishing and redesigning a portion of the roof to support a rooftop common area as well as roof slab seismic rehabilitation. The scope of work included interior tenant improvements such as open and closed administrative spaces and restrooms, as well as MEFP and elevator system upgrades.

The seismic retrofit included upgrading portions of the roof with Fyfe’s Tyfo fiber-reinforced polymer to provide additional in-plane diaphragm shear strength in accordance with IAPMO EC-038. The newly minted evaluation criteria for diaphragm shear, chord and collector strengthening has now been used to strengthen buildings in Southern California multiple times, this being the most high profile application to date.

Fyfe’s certified applicator, Penhall Company, carried out the work over a three month period in the Summer of 2022, which also included beam confinement, stair strengthening, and the use of IAPMO approved composite anchors. The construction work was completed without the need to shut down the building.