Friday December 20, 2019 ~ LANGFORD
~ West Shore Voice News
A third-party engineering review of the brand new Danbrook One apartment building at 2766 Claude Road in the Langford core shows that “certain aspects of the building’s structural design and its as-built structure do not meet engineering requirements and are not sufficient to mitigate risks to lie safety of the tenants”.
The review was done by WSP consulting, who submitted their preliminary summary to the City of Langford today, December 20.
The WSP report confirms that the Danbrook One building is “not in compliance with the BC Building Code” and as such the City has “temporarily revoked the occupancy permit of 2766 Claude Road until the recommended immediate repairs are made”. The occupancy permit will be reinstated once remedial repairs have been completed.
Langford Mayor Stew Young says the structural changes to be done includes column support for beams in the basement and second level. He said this evening that it should take about two weeks for the work to be done on a temporary basis, and that a permanent fix will follow.
There are 86 units rented in the 90-unit building. Tenants were notified on December 18 of this possible eventuality, and then this evening (from 6:15 to 7 pm) were told about the Occupancy Permit being revoked. In a letter they were asked to relocate immediately into temporary hotel accommodation.
A Command Response Centre was set up close by at 780 Goldstream Avenue, open this evening to midnight. It will be open again for tenants on Saturday December 21 (7 am to 9 pm), and Sunday December 22 (7 am to 6 pm). City staff are available by email at danbrookeone@langford.ca or by phone 250-857-0314.
The findings of the WSP investigation — as outlined in a letter to City of Langford Director of Engineering Michelle Mahovlich — are divided by issues related to the Gravity System, and issues related to the Seismic Force Resisting System. A “Lower than code stipulated factor of safety and where the likely failure mechanism can occur with vary little warning”.
The Danbrook One development owned by Centurion Property Associates was open to new tenants in the spring of this year. And last month, the building was recognized with an excellence award from the Victoria Real Estate Board. | See Official Statement from Centurion Property Associates about the current situation, provided to media on December 20, 2019.
Why all this disruption for tenants so close to Christmas? Yesterday Langford Mayor Stew Young said that it’s about ‘safety first’, even before the engineering issues had been made known to Langford or the developerDesign Build (DB) Services.
The designer is listed by the Victoria Real Estate Board Commercial Division as Jack James Architect.
The city noted that while the builder (Victoria Construction) has completed eight other projects in Langford, the Danbrook One building is the only concrete highrise of its kind that the builder has completed.
The Engineers and Geoscientists of BC (EGBC) is the licensing and regulatory body responsible for BC professional engineers and geoscientists. Their role is limited to investigation and discipline of their members.
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