Our Mission.

Seismic Shift Story

When a devastating series of earthquakes struck Christchurch, New Zealand in 2011, Ben Exton was a student and Geoff Banks was a practicing structural engineer. Ben was one of thousands of students who volunteered to help shovel liquefaction and support the affected residents - an experience which inspired him into structural engineering. Geoff found himself inspecting homes and supporting families through protracted insurance claims.

Through these personal experiences, the founders of Seismic Shift have witnessed first-hand the human cost of earthquake damaged buildings. They have seen how damage to these important structures impacts people's financial, physical and mental wellbeing and creates enormous waste and climate emissions.

Engineering standards are primarily designed to save lives. But what if we could do better than that?

What if we could build more resilient buildings that would suffer less damage and protect people from the trauma and financial costs of rebuilding - and would spare the planet the waste and carbon emissions?

This is our mission at Seismic Shift - to deliver affordable resilience to earthquake-prone communities around the world.

Founders

Ben, Geoff & team are supported by a group of expert advisors, researchers and specialists.

What drives us.

Affordability

Seismic protection has historically been expensive. We've engineered standardised, buildable solutions that bring cost down without compromising performance.

Resilience beyond life-safety

Building codes protect lives. But lives are also affected by damage, displacement, financial loss, and mental stress. We design for a better outcome.

Global reach

Earthquakes don't respect borders. Our technology is designed to work in any seismic context - from New Zealand to Japan, Chile to California.

Intellectual Property

Certain Seismic Shift products are protected by one or more claims of patents in the U.S. and elsewhere. This website page is provided to satisfy the virtual patent marking provisions of various jurisdictions, including the virtual patent marking provisions of the America Invents Act (35 U.S.C § 287) in the U.S. for the listed patents that are practiced by one or more of the identified products. The following listing of Seismic Shift products may not be all inclusive and Seismic Shift products not listed here may be protected by one or more patents. In addition, Seismic Shift may be the owner or licensee of additional patents and patent applications that are not listed here.

FrontFoot™ May be covered by or may be for use under one or more of the following: N.Z. Pat. No. 785618, Patent Pending Application No. PCT/IB2022/051714, WO2022/185174A1.

Quake Defender May be covered by or may be for use under one or more of the following: Australian Patent Pending Application No. 2024904237.

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