‘STRUCTURALLY UNSAFE’
Fort Saskatchewan condo building evacuated over failed floor joists
A man removes belongings from a 44-unit residential condo complex on 100 Street in Fort Saskatchewan Friday after the building was evacuated due to structural deficiencies identified by an engineer after residents complained of “spongy floors.”
A week after city officials in Fort Saskatchewan became aware of concerns at a 44-unit residential building, they ordered an evacuation, deeming the building “structurally unsafe.”
“I’d like to know what the situation was so I can figure out if I need to get a new apartment to rent,” resident Daniel Quayle, one of dozens of people given 30 minutes to gather essentials and clear their homes, said Friday.
The evacuation order was issued for the four-storey condo complex at 9930 100 Ave. about 8 a.m. Friday, the city posted to social media.
Brad Ward, Fort Saskatchewan’s director of protective services and director of emergency management, told reporters during a Friday news conference that after residents complained about “spongy floors,” the condo association contacted a structural engineer to inspect the building.
“The engineer did a preliminary examination (and) thought there was a number of the floor joists that had been damaged or improperly constructed,” said Ward.
“On further examination, and this took the better part of a week, (on) Thursday night at around 6 o’clock they determined that there was far more of the floor joists that were compromised than originally thought.”
The engineer, who is required to report structural concerns like these to the city, contacted the city’s safety code officer, who recommended that the building be evacuated.
There was a risk that the floor joists would fail, Ward said.
Constructed in 2003, the building has 44 suites. People in at least 26 suites were affected, Ward said, and 10 were vacant.
At the time of the news conference, there were people in approximately three suites who still needed to be contacted.
While building flaws or “deficiencies” are common in Alberta, the evacuation of a building is very uncommon, said Roberto Noce, a lawyer who specializes in municipal law, real estate development, condominium and corporate matters in an interview Friday.
If they don’t have a home warranty program, insurance, or if they can’t establish liability with someone else, such as a builder, then condo owners may be on the hook to bring the building up to code, he said.
Those owners should be demanding information from the condominium board, and that board will probably need to retain a lawyer, said Noce.
“This is no longer an issue as to what colour to paint the lobby. It has huge financial implications for the owners,” said Noce.
Ward said they’re not exactly sure how long it will take to fix the deficiencies.
Structural engineers are trying to shore up the floor joists, stabilize the building and do a comprehensive review, at which point they might be able to determine if maintenance or construction errors were a contributing factor, Ward said.
“Deficiencies usually arise in the first couple of years of turnover between the developers and owners — not 16 years after it was built. Something really went wrong here,” Ward said.
An incident management team, Alberta Health Services and the Red Cross were on scene to assist residents.
Residents in the adjacent building, 9932 100 Ave., are not being evacuated since the city said that building has a different type of construction completed two years prior.