Park Terraces, Ayala Land Premier’s three-tower development residential enclave, was launched in January 2010. The building which is located in the Philippines’ main business center, accommodating hotels, residences and retail, is currently under construction. The 50-storey, 187m tall building is the first building in the country to use the Buckling Restrained Bracing (BRB) structural system. The BRB approach, used in steel and concrete construction projects, enables a structure to be put up without beams, using only slabs and eliminating constraints in utilities and chases, providing earthquake and seismic resistance.

Since July 2010, AIT Consulting (AITC) has been working through its client Sy^2 + Associates Inc. on the Seismic Performance-Based Evaluation of Ayala Land Premier’s Park Terraces Towers. The main objective of the work carried out by AITC was to design the building using a performance-based approach for seismic design with predictable and safe performance when subjected to earthquake ground motions. AITC was also responsible for the incorporation of BRB modeling in the design, in order to enhance the performance of the buildings.

AIT Consulting Executive Director and CEO, Dr. Naveed Anwar, travelled to Manila, Philippines in late November to visit the Park Terraces site, which is under construction, to inspect the BRB components, their manufacture and storage on ground. Accompanied by a representative from Star Seismic, Dr. Anwar viewed the progress of BRB elements that had already been installed on several upper floors. With the Star Seismic representative, they viewed the fabrication and construction of the BRB components. Discussions were held on the possibility of improvements for several BRB elements that had been posing some difficulty during fabrication and installation, however the overall quality of installation was found impressive. During the trip, ideas regarding the possibility of using the BRB approach in future projects were also proposed.