CHENNAI: The headquarters of Tamil Nadu Electricity Board (TNEB) on Anna Salai is being retrofitted with shear walls to make it resistant to earthquakes and cyclones.The renovation of the 10 storey building, which is more than 30 years old, is being taken up at an estimated Rs 25 crore.Former Madras IIT professor A R Shantakumar , who was roped in to assess the strength of the building and its foundation, had suggested strengthening it with shear walls. "Chennai fell under the earthquake zone 3 after the 2002 Bhuj earthquake . But the present TNEB headquarters building was constructed much before 2002," he said. Shantakumar, who has helped in retrofitting of several buildings including the main building of the city's airport, did an analysis of the building when he was approached to assess its strength. "We found that at present the building is safe for gravity and occupancy . But it is not strong enough to withstand an earthquake or a big cyclone. We used ultrasonic equipment to check the strength of the building before presenting a report to the TNEB board," said Shantakumar.The building needed shear walls to save it from earthquakes and cyclones."Being in the coastal area, most of the new buildings in Chennai city have a different front area as per the concrete code. But the TNEB building which is quite old is open in the front. At present a new building will come up in front of the present building," he said.Shear wall is a rigid vertical diaphragm capable of transferring lateral forces from exterior walls, floors, and roofs to the ground foundation in a direction parallel to their planes. Examples of shear walls are the reinfor ced-concrete wall or vertical truss, the expert said."We expect the work to be over by 2019. The total cost will be `25 crore and the front area of headquarters will be built along the lines of the Namakkal Kavignar Maaligai inside Fort St George. The building's terrace which has solar panels with a capacity of 29KW will continue to be there," TNEB chairman S Saikumar said."After completion of the construction work, we plan to install a central air conditioner for all the 10 floors. But that will happen only after 2019," he added. Apart from strengthening the building, the TNEB compound will also have a sub-station in the coming months.

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