A professional engineer out of Penticton has given a Notice to Vacate to the 43 owners of suites at Park Place in Oliver.

Park Place – 317 McKinney Rd – near Fairview Bridge – 3 storey 40 thousand sq. feet building.

Lawrence Riding, P. Eng. of Riding Engineering was hired to determine the cause of cement floor cracking and his report was given to owners late last week with the real bad news:

Owners of ground floor suites must leave with their belongings for up to 2 years by August 15th with other floors to go by September 1st.

“the entire building continues to be affected by ground movements related to groundwater (water table). These movements continue to stress the structural load bearing support of the entire building. This continued cyclic stressing of structural members has the potential to cause serious damage to those members, assemblies, or building utilities. Any serious damage would deem the building unsafe and trigger and emergency situation” says Riding.

First picture: support system inside main lobby – floor cracking and walls shifting with this support structure  already off plumb. The engineer says the elevator to the second and third floor could be affected soon.

Stuart Syme, speaking for owners, says those living at Park Place, are devastated. The owners will meet tomorrow and further meetings of the strata council are set to determine the next move.

The engineer has determined that the floor started to crack and the building became more unstable after an earthquake  November 18th, 2011. The engineer first investigated possible water line problems and drainage off the roof but those possible causes were discounted.

Will the insurance cover repairs on the $6.3 million dollar building?How much will it cost to fix the building? When will owners be allowed back in? Good questions with no answers yet.

Second Picture – hole dug under 5 inch concrete slab to check on how sub-surface soil was compacted.

Syme says nothing has been determined yet as to the fix. Insurance first. Fixing later but the owners must leave. Syme says the fix could be in the millions.

Park Place was opened in 1987 and all codes and engineering instructions were followed.

earlier on ODN

Owners of Park Place became aware of some wall (dry wall) and floor cracking in 2012 and they launched an envelope inspection of the building to look into issues connected to surface water and decks. The initial study involved three things – a. how is surface water dealt with on the property b. gathering of information on the building itself and c. looking at the main floor (concrete) as part of the building envelope. Engineers were hired.

The experts hired recommended a forensic structure study based on the amount of floor space affected by cracking and the nature and movements vertical and horizontal on the concrete. Much of the floor cracking is evident in the entrance and dining room area at the western side of the building.

The studies have been quite expensive with no final determination yet to the cause. One thought was that a seismic event in 2011 may have caused the cracking. The building has been trouble free for over 25 years but maintenance costs began to spike in the last two years.

A problem with domestic water lines has been ruled out. Drilling west of the building (shown above) found no unusual moisture content and the soil mix under the building is dry and completed as recommended by engineers at the time of construction in 1987. Water flow off the building/rainfall is controlled well.

Owners are committed to finding the cause. All expenses to date in the investigation will be covered by the 43 unit owners. Remediation cannot take place until the cause is determined.

Park Place was built by June and Ernest Phillips and a company owned by the Carpenters Union which financed the project. The complex is valued at about 6 million dollars.

Stuart Syme says 51 percent of people in BC live within a strata and this is a bit of wake up call for all those in joint ownership. Many of the buildings in this area are built near the river and on old oxbows or marshy lands.

He says he hopes a definitive answer to a cause is forthcoming within a reasonable length of time.