Unreinforced Masonry Buildings - What & Why

What’s Happening Now?

The City is in the process of adopting the URM Retrofit Recognition codes. These codes are anticipated to be adopted this fall as part of the 2021Seattle Existing Building Code (SEBC). The Retrofit Recognition codes will support voluntary earthquake retrofits for URM building owners seeking to have their building recognized in the city’s URM database as retrofitted.

We recently hosted two webinars explaining program and code updates:

• Slides and Recording from the October 16, 2024, URM Retrofit Program Update
• Slides and Recording from the October 17, 2024, URM Retrofit Recognition Technical Briefing

You can learn more about the technical standards for URM retrofit on the Project Document Page, Background Page, and FAQ page.

Retrofitting URM buildings will be mandatory in the future, once the city has established supportive resources.

• The City has applied for federal grant funding to support the retrofit of URMs located in underserved communities. The grant has been “selected for further review” by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). The federal grant process moves slowly. Status of the grant and opportunities for financial assistance will be updated on this page and on the Project Documents page.
• The City is exploring a proposed transfer of development rights program for URMs that would allow URM owners to sell unused development rights to fund seismic retrofits. More information is available on the Background Page, under the heading “Funding Working Group."
• A statewide effort is underway to identify feasible tax incentives as well as additional financial incentives for tax-exempt entities such as schools, non-profit, and religious organizations. This effort is in coordination with the WA State Seismic Safety Subcommittee, a group that advises the Governor through the Emergency Management Council.

To learn more about existing supportive resources go to the Project Documents Page or FAQ page.

Project Benefits

The URM Retrofit Recognition Codes will:

• Define minimum earthquake safety requirements for a “retrofitted” URM building.
• Establish the Alternate Method for URM retrofit, a reduced retrofit standard that minimizes cost and collapse hazard for qualifying URM buildings.
• The City’s primary reason for encouraging earthquake retrofits of URMs is public safety. Damage to these buildings during earthquakes is well-documented. When a URM building is damaged, occupants in the building can be injured or killed. Debris from the damaged buildings can injure pedestrians and passing vehicles and can block adjacent sidewalks and roadways which can delay emergency response to those trapped in the structures. Retrofitting URMs will save lives and reduce injuries from an earthquake.

Retrofitting URMs will also help retain important buildings that are the heart of the historic and cultural character of many neighborhoods. Their loss can impact how a neighborhood recovers from an earthquake. Earthquake retrofits of URMs will reduce business closures post-earthquake and increase building re-occupancy timelines, thus allowing for a quicker recovery and reduction in economic impacts.

Seismic retrofits of URMs support climate resilience by promoting the adaptive reuse of existing buildings and by reducing post-quake debris, air pollution, and embodied carbon associated with damages, demolitions, and rebuilding.

The End Result

A future ordinance requiring the mandatory earthquake retrofit of URMs will be adopted. Compliance with the Retrofit Recognition Codes is currently voluntary with plans to require mandatory retrofit once supportive resources become available. Building owners will have advance notice of the mandatory URM retrofit ordinance, retrofit requirements, compliance timelines, and available supportive resources.

In the next 50 years, Seattle has an 86 percent chance of experiencing a damaging earthquake. A future mandatory unreinforced masonry retrofit ordinance will improve the life safety of over 1,100 collapse-hazard buildings. The future required URM earthquake retrofits will reduce the probability of injuries, fatalities, and long-term displacement to the over 22,000 people who live or work in URM buildings.

The minimum earthquake retrofit standard will not bring URMs up to current code; building owners are encouraged to consult a structural engineer to retrofit to higher performance standards and to consider additional resiliency factors such as energy efficiency and emission reduction upgrades during the retrofit process.