NEWS BRIEFS
BRITISH COLUMBIA
Social housing project
requires repairs
A Vancouver social housing project
requires $4.5 million in repairs less
than a decade after a local contractor
was paid $8.5 million to construct the
structure. The Vancouver Sun reports that it
isn’t clear about who is responsible
for the deficiencies at the four-storey
Dunbar Apartments, owned by B.C.

Housing. The building has 51 studio
apartments with support services for
people who were homeless or at risk
of becoming homeless.

The provincial agency says said it
had identified “deficiencies with
some of the materials and construc-
tion methods utilized on the exterior
of the building.”
“The scope of work includes a
complete replacement of the brick
veneer and replacement of the metal
cladding panels in some locations
due to inadequate strength of mate-
rial and installation methods,” said a
statement from B.C. Housing
spokeswoman Laura Mathews.

“Crews will also be removing and re-
installing all windows to ensure
proper waterproofing.”
Mechanical upgrades are also un-
derway in the basement parking level
and the balcony drains are being re-
placed, because “water is accumulat-
ing up to the emergency balcony
overflow drains,” Matthews said.

The problems were not caused by
damage by any of the residents, said
Susan Hancock, a spokeswoman for
Coast Mental Health, the charity that
operates the building. No tenants
have been moved during the work,
she said.

Aquila Construction Inc. was
awarded a $8.54 million contract to
build the apartments in 2010, the Sun
reports. Davidson Yuen Simpson Ar-
chitecture was the architect.

Dane Jansen, a partner at the ar-
chitecture firm now known as DYS
Architecture, said B.C. Housing had
not contacted his company about any
deficiencies or repairs as far as he
24 – Spring 2019 — The Canadian Design and Construction Report
CONSTRUCTION ACROSS CANADA
was aware.

Aquila president Derek Bosa said
the first he heard about the Dunbar’s
deficiencies was when The Sun
phoned the company’s offices this
week to inquire. After the Sun pro-
vided B.C. Housing’s description of
the Dunbar Apartments’ deficiencies
to Bosa, he replied by email to say:
“All I can offer is that this issue is
pending further information and dis-
cussions with B.C. Housing.”
ALBERTA Fort Saskatchewan condo-
minium evacuation relates
to disbarred engineer
The Association of Professional
Engineers and Geoscientists of Al-
berta (APEGA) says structural prob-
lems with a condominium in Fort
Saskatchewan, northeast of Edmon-
ton, relate to the work of a former
professional engineer whose permit
had been cancelled in 2004.

APEGA cancelled the engineering
permit for Jacobsen Hage Engineer-
ing,” the organization reported. “This
means the company was no longer
allowed to do any engineering work
in Alberta. In February 2005, Sven
Hage resigned his APEGA licence to
practise, meaning he was no longer
allowed to do any engineering work
in Alberta. These were both due to
unrelated disciplinary findings of un-
skilled practice and unprofessional
conduct involving structural engineer-
ing.” “Due to provisions in the Engineer-
ing and Geoscience Professions Act,
APEGA can take no further action
against Hage. The current legislation
limits investigating complaints to two
years following the cancellation or
resignation of a person’s licence. As
part of APEGA’s legislative review, we
are working with the Government of
Alberta on more than 160 APEGA-rec-
ommended changes to modernize
and strengthen our legislation, includ-
ing the limitation on investigations.”
SASKATCHEWAN Developer seeks
property tax break
Residents of a building in the
Riverview Estates condominiums
were evacuated on Aug. 2 after an
engineering assessment that the
structure is unsafe.

“Upon learning about the evacua-
tion, APEGA contacted the City of
Fort Saskatchewan’s safety codes of-
ficer and its director of protective ser-
vices,” the association said in a
statement. “APEGA confirmed with
the city that the structural engineer-
ing firm and professional engineer on
record for the structural design of the
building were Jacobsen Hage Engi-
neering and Sven Hage. In addition,
APEGA provided the city with the cur-
rent status of the firm and engineer.

“In December 2004, one year after
the condominiums were constructed,
The developer behind a 10-storey
apartment building under construc-
tion in Saskatoon’s Broadway busi-
ness district is seeking a property tax
break worth $788,535.

A City of Saskatoon report esti-
mates the developer’s investment in
the residential-commercial property,
including the land, is $23.5 million,
the Star-Phoenix reports. The devel-