Residents of a new 11-storey building on Claude Road in Langford are being strongly encouraged by municipal officials to move out immediately because of “there is a life safety concern for tenants in the building.”
The building, called Danbrook One, has 90 one- and two-bedroom units, 86 of which are rented.
The advice from the city follows a final engineering report on the structural integrity of the building, built by Design Build Services and completed this year.
The city has temporarily revoked the occupancy permit for the building.
Langford Mayor Stew Young said residents can’t be forced to leave. “All we can is say is that there are some structural issues that we have had verified,” he said. “Some of the issues were resolved in the last two days but there’s not enough information.”
He said the engineering firm WSP, which is working for Langford, has found issues with beams on the first and second floors.
The situation first came to light when the Engineering and Geoscientists of B.C. received a professional-conduct complaint in connection with the building and informed the city in April, then reported Dec. 3 there was enough evidence to start a probe..
“We investigated it, found from WSP that there are obviously some issues,” Young said. “So now we are, as a city, obligated to tell people this is an issue, we’ll put you up in a hotel, we’ll find you a permanent location somewhere else if you choose.”
“Hopefully we’ll get more information about how they’re going to retrofit it,” Young said. “There might be a short timeline, but there might be a long timeline.”
He said that if people don’t want to move during Christmas, they will be moved after if they wish.
A reception centre to assist residents has been set up close to Danbrook One at 780 Goldstream Ave.
“We’re going to work long hours,” he said.
Members of the public are already stepping forward to offer assistance, Young said. “I’m getting a lot calls from people saying ‘Hey, how can I help?’ ”
He said people with moving vans available for use are being asked to come forward.
A letter from WSP to the city says that it found “a lower than code stipulated factor and where the likely failure mechanism can occur with very little warning.” It recommends immediate installation of temporary supports.
Earlier in the week, the city had recommended that tenants move out and offered help to do so, but many of them said they wanted to stay. On Friday, residents were told that the WSP review has found that their “building is not in compliance with the B.C. Building Code and raises several safety concerns.”
The city said it is working with building owner Centurion Property Associates to make immediate repairs.
