Bird Construction
Squire Building
Owner: Bob Steils
Engineer: BPA Group Consulting Engineers
Built around 1910, the Squire Building was originally a warehouse facility for the Roebling Co., a bridge-building firm. The building was designed to store rolls of wire cable used in suspension bridges, and various engineering studies suggest at one time it was capable of supporting floor loads approaching 1,000 pounds per square foot.
Several earthquakes, culminating with the Nisqually quake in February 2001, caused major damage to the building. When Bird Construction began preconstruction work, the northwest and southwest corners below the parapet level bulged outward in excess of 6 inches — just short of the total failure mark of many historical buildings in Pioneer Square.
As part of the $2 million restoration, Bird upgraded the building diaphragm by installing a perimeter angle anchorage system at all brick wall/wood flooring interfaces. Additionally, the project team installed seismic braces on all timber post-and-beam connections to prevent displacement in a future earthquake.
To increase shear capacity, the team designed a way to shotcrete walls from the basement to the underside of the fourth-floor roof while overcoming void problems in walls congested with reinforcing steel. Bird used a new design mix — never before used on a Seattle project — that could be placed without vibration and still achieve good consolidation of concrete.
Bird also replaced the 95-year-old wood windows on the building, coordinating with the Pioneer Square Preservation Board to rework the exterior. In addition, craftsmen completed all walls above the basement with wood grain architectural concrete finish, and Bird replaced storefronts and roofing, abated asbestos under wood floors and renovated the ground-floor office layout.
BPA Group Consulting Engineers worked on the project, along with ABC members Cadman, Lakeridge Plumbing & Mechanical, Prezant Associates, Puget Sound Masonry, SimplexGrinnell Fire Protection, Merit Electric and Starr.