Using heritage building registers to characterise unreinforced masonry buildings of Brisbane, Australia

ABSTRACT Worldwide, unreinforced masonry (URM) buildings are present in abundance with many holding cultural and heritage value. URM buildings have a known history of poor performance during past earthquakes because of the weak tensile properties and lack of mechanical connections between elements. Information about the construction of URM buildings for a region is important because it can help engineers and policy makers to perform seismic assessment, risk and loss studies. In this regard, this study includes a characterisation of the heritage URM buildings in Brisbane City, Australia, and its surrounding suburbs using the Queensland Heritage Register (QHR). The QHR includes a total of 1775 heritage sites, of which 323 are identified as URM buildings in Brisbane City and surrounding suburbs. The studied building characteristics obtained from QHR included the architectural styles, construction year, function/use, number of storeys, roof material and load-bearing wall materials. Other features such as roof types (shapes), plan geometry, isolated or interconnected buildings, verandas and openings, and finally the presence of seismic hazards such as gable-end walls, chimneys, and parapets have been obtained using online 3D maps. It was concluded that heritage registers in combination with online digital resources can be successfully utilised to characterise URM buildings.