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OIT has served them well. (Carter, Allen,
Stokes, and Smith are all OIT alumni.)
“Our emphasis on hiring interns and hir-
ing locally is pretty key in our business,”
says Zach Stokes, Principal with ZCS. VP
Allen began his career with ZCS as one of
those interns almost 20 years ago, and hir-
ing graduates with local learning has given
them depth into this area of seismic building
knowledge. “Western states have been on
the forefront of seismic code development
because we experience it,” adds Smith. “We
interact with it.”

PUTTING THE ZCS TEAM TO WORK

When looking at the number of buildings
that pre-date seismic building codes in
Oregon, it can seem alarming, but Stokes
points out that considering the relative
newness of seismic building code, “deficien-
cies are kind of the norm.” Their depth of
experience in seismic retrofits and research
means the ZCS team has developed con-
siderable expertise in finding just the right
solution for each challenge.

The first challenge is usually funding, says
Allen, and most school districts simply
can’t prioritize a seismic retrofit because
of the cost. “When funding is available, the
value is there,” says Allen, and part of the
service that ZCS provides is preparing a
grant application and project proposal for
each location. They have also developed a
familiarity with the variety of traditional
construction styles that Allen describes has
having “a pretty consistent set of deficien-
cies.” It’s a baseline expertise that helps
them coordinate projects efficiently and
effectively within the terms of the State of
Oregon Seismic Grant Program.

“We try to get the best bang for the buck
for the districts,” says Smith. “Some of these
smaller districts may have a difficult time
passing a bond, for example, so we ask
ourselves not only how we can retrofit the
building, but what can we do to improve
the quality of the teaching environment?”
Working with the ZCS architectural team
and the user group, they bring both their
experience and their creative problem
solving to each project to maximize the
improvements within the budget, grant
requirements, and schedule available to

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