about

Karim Allana is a sustainable construction expert with 45 years of experience in the construction industry. He holds engineering licenses in California, Washington, Nevada, Hawaii, North Carolina, Colorado, and Oregon and has worked on dozens of major new and remedial construction projects across the United States. He specializes in building enclosure, including roofing, waterproofing, and exterior façade.

As a civil engineering major at Santa Clara University, Mr. Allana got his humble start in building enclosure while working for a roofing company in San Jose called Precision Roofing. After graduation, Mr. Allana was recruited by Turner Construction Company and worked on ground-up new construction projects. In 1985, Mr. Allana went back to Precision Roofing as an operations manager before starting on his own.

In 1987, he founded Allana Buick & Bers (ABB), a multistate construction firm that oversees approximately several billion dollars in new construction projects and over a hundred million dollars in remedial construction work annually. As ABB’s Chief Executive Officer, he is responsible for the overall direction of ABB, including strategic planning and day-to-day administration of departments encompassing approximately 225 employees. He has overseen over 18,800 architectural and engineering projects for all types of building structures.

A few of the notable projects that Mr. Allana has worked on include:

● Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory (Berkeley, California)
● Sun Microsystems (Menlo Park, California)
● Kay Bailey Hutchison Convention Center (Dallas, Texas)
● Mirage Hotel and Casino (Las Vegas, Nevada)
● City Financial Tower (Honolulu, Hawaii)
● Moxy Seattle Downtown Hotel (Seattle, Washington)
● DFW International Airport (Dallas, Texas)
● Hall of Justice Building (Redwood City, California)
● Travis Airforce Base (Fairfield, California)
● Emeryville Public Market (Emeryville, California)

Karim Allana works with clients in numerous sectors, including local and federal government, multi-family residential, industrial, educational (K-12 and higher education), healthcare, and insurance. Under his guidance, ABB has earned a number of awards as the best firm to work for by Zweig White and two International Institute of Building Enclosure Consultants (IIBEC) awards for documented excellence.

He also has extensive experience as an expert witness in forensic investigations of building failures, having served as an expert witness in nearly 1000 construction defect cases. He regularly develops and delivers technical presentations and seminars for fellow engineers, architects, and construction professionals, with a focus on reducing risk in construction, making buildings perform better with longer life expectancy, improving energy efficiency, and reducing risk in construction. He has also lectured on building envelope and construction topics at UC Berkeley.

Mr. Allana is deeply involved in both reconstruction and new construction projects. He supervises all aspects of these projects and leads ABB’s work on condition assessments, energy efficiency and renewable energy system upgrades, engineering design, construction management and design build construction. He’s proud to provide ABB’s clients with unmatched expertise in engineering and building systems as well as tactical expertise in complex project management and conflict resolution.

He is a member of several professional societies and associations, including the International Facility Management Association (IFMA), the International Institute of Building Enclosure Consultants (IIBEC), the American Architectural Manufacturers Association (AAMA), the San Francisco Bay Area Planning and Urban Research Association (SPUR), the Community Associations Institute (CAI), and the International Code Council (ICC), and the Sealant, Waterproofing and Restoration Institute (SWRI). He is a Registered Roof Consultant and a Registered Waterproofing Consultant.

Karim Allana earned his civil engineering degree at Santa Clara University in Santa Clara, California. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area.