Building Sciences

Disaster Recovery Planning

A wide variety of building/facility evaluation and rehabilitation services may be needed as part of disaster planning [pre-event] or as a result of a hurricane or other catastrophe [post-event].

Disaster preparedness is critical for existing buildings. The issues faced by building owners and managers, as well as insurers, for example, in the aftermath of Hurricanes Katrina, Wilma, and Ike ranged from structural concerns to mold remediation to insurance claims to re-occupancy monitoring.

If a building or facility is in trouble due to damage from a hurricane, for example, it will be necessary to determine whether it can be saved, what needs to be done to rehabilitate it, design the correction, and oversee the reconstruction. The significance of some aspects of the disaster recovery process may be surprisingly underestimated. MZA provides the following disaster planning and recovery services:

Building Foundation

  • Facility Assessment

    The first step in disaster planning is to conduct a complete building assessment to know the condition and the potential for damage to critical equipment and the building envelope. This will assess mechanical equipment, life safety and power distribution, and back-up as well as the location and condition of hazardous materials.

  • Plan Development

    The Disaster Recovery Plan will need to be tailored to the specific needs of the building and the type of disaster. There are many elements included in a Disaster Recovery Plan, including items such as relocation plans, notification and emergency equipment requirements and restoration procedures. One of the critical items often overlooked is the development of relationships with reliable restoration contractors with the capability to mobilize quickly.

  • Training

    Once the plan is developed, training should be conducted and the plan should be reviewed periodically to ensure effectiveness.

  • Damage Assessment

    The following are types of damage assessments performed by MZA: building substrates, building envelope, building MEP (HVAC/mechanical, Electrical and Plumbing), Structural evaluation; demo versus rebuild.

  • Remediation, Restoration and Construction

    This includes mold remediation and clearance sampling; construction management issues; temporary conditioning and dehumidification; (re)commissioning.

  • Environmental and Materials Assessment

    Environmental and Materials Assessment could include indoor air quality, surface contamination; asbestos-containing materials and fire protection; plaster and plaster substrates; wood materials; restoration of historic structures.

  • Dispute Resolution

    Determine whether moisture damage was the result of the hurricane or was the result of some pre-existing defect such as could be caused by improper design, construction or maintenance; determine if the structure was constructed in accordance with building codes in effect at the time of construction.

  • Mapping and Documentation

    Geographical information systems (GIS) databases of sampling and contamination locations; computer-assisted evaluation of physical assets of structure or facility; photographic and videographic documentation.