New Guidance for San Francisco High-Rise Foundations

New tall buildings in San Francisco to comply with updated guidelines for foundation peer review and monitoring.

Millennium Tower subsidence problems prompt San Francisco Dept. of Building Inspection to issue guidelines for foundation peer review and monitoring of new buildings, 240 ft or taller. New guidelines include procedures for structural, geotechnical and seismic-hazard engineering design review. Requirements determine a strict building's peer review panel with at least one or two additional geotechnical or a civil engineers, both registered professionals in the state.

Normally, project sponsors will have to set for new requirements regarding settlement monitoring on their buildings and foundations for 10 years after completion, with annual reports submitted to the city.

Critical structural, engineering and geological aspects must be covered within peer reviewer report, including the design of a building's shallow and/or deep foundation systems; an interpretation of geotechnical and geological investigations; soil-foundation-structure interaction under gravity and seismic loading; liquefaction, landslides and other geological site hazards; ground improvement; static and dynamic earth pressures; effects of dewatering; foundation or building settlement and more.