Tom's research is in the seismic protection of New Zealand residential buildings. The highest source of cost in previous earthquakes (including the February 2011 Christchurch earthquake) has been in the residential sector, accounting for approximately half of the total rebuild and recovery. However, a lot of this damage could be prevented with the use of seismic protection systems such as base isolation technology. So far this technology has been unable to overcome cost and practicality issues but an innovative system is being developed to address these. Tom's research uses loss assessment analyses, structural modelling and an experimental programme to verify the potential of a base isolation system to reduce earthquake impacts to residential buildings. The benefits are expected to greatly reduce the cost of repair and stress induced from house damage.