Heritage monitoring
Heritage and monuments
Measure how a sensitive or unreinforced structure responds to shaking and nearby works, without invasive fixings, so conservation and safety decisions rest on real data.
Trusted on critical assets
You cannot judge it by the new-build rulebook, or drill into it to check.
Heritage and unreinforced masonry structures respond to shaking in ways a modern frame does not, and the fabric that makes them significant is exactly what you must not disturb to find out.
Canterbury Seismic uses a small number of accelerographs placed on and around the structure, with non-invasive fixings, to record how it actually responds to earthquakes and to nearby construction or traffic vibration. The record shows induced vibration and ground effects against a free-field reference, giving conservation engineers evidence rather than assumption, and an alert if a threshold is crossed during works.
How heritage structures are instrumented, from two units up
Start: one to two instruments on the structure plus a free-field reference. Captures how the building responds relative to the ground motion around it.
Standard: several points across the structure capturing the response of the vulnerable elements, with the free-field station for comparison.
Extended: an array with LVDT on cracks and joints and site weather on one EQR-C clock, for long-term condition monitoring or vibration control during nearby works, with threshold alerts.
Non-invasive by design: surface-mounted with reversible fixings, IP54 as standard and IP65 where exposed. Nothing that compromises the fabric.
Vibration expertise you can trust
Our instruments record induced vibration and structural response non-invasively, working alongside acoustic and vibration specialists on sensitive structures. Developed and proven in New Zealand over more than twenty years, supplied and commissioned by the team that builds the hardware.
Why Canterbury Seismic is the right seismic and structural monitoring partner.
Modular seismic monitoring, configured to your site.
Your data, in your systems
Every instrument records raw time-series acceleration and outputs MiniSEED, CSV and a programmatic HTTPS API, with SeedLink streaming and dry-contact relays into your SCADA or PLC. The web interface is the console, so there is no separate software licence or subscription to run it. Feed the record into your existing dam-monitoring and control systems, or hand it to your engineer's own analysis tools. If you specify instrumentation as a consultant, we supply the measurement layer for your analysis. Your data stays yours.
Talk to us about your structure
Tell us the structure, its significance and whether the concern is earthquake response or vibration from nearby works. We will scope a non-invasive system.
Heritage monitoring questions
Will installing sensors damage the heritage fabric?
No. Instruments are surface-mounted with reversible, non-invasive fixings. Nothing that compromises the significant fabric.
What can it tell me about a heritage building?
How the structure actually responds to earthquake shaking and to nearby vibration from construction or traffic, measured against a free-field reference, so conservation and safety decisions rest on data.
Can it monitor vibration during nearby construction?
Yes. Configurable thresholds trigger alerts if vibration approaches a limit during works, alongside the continuous record.
How many sensors does a heritage structure need?
As few as one on the structure plus a free-field reference to start, extending to several points across the vulnerable elements for a fuller picture.
Do we need a subscription?
No. The web interface is the console, with no separate software licence, and the record is yours in open formats for your conservation engineer.
Has it recorded real earthquakes?
Yes. Canterbury Seismic instruments have captured strong ground motion through a major earthquake sequence and run continuously on standing structures.