This shows a crack in the wall of the Royal Canadian Legion next to the UBCO construction site and a contractor with drilling equipment in the parking lot.

Image Credit: Submitted/Jack Thompson

At least three buildings near UBC Okanagan’s new downtown campus have been damaged as construction crews dig a large hole to make way for four levels of underground parking.

“We’re very worried,” Charisse Daley, executive director of Pathways Abilities Society, told iNFOnews.ca. “There’s been structural damage to the building.”

The building in question is the 68-unit Hadgraft Wilson Place subsidized housing complex that residents just moved into in May and June of this year.

“Our staff have been in constant contact with UBCO and we’re documenting the damage,” Daley said. “We had an agreement prior to them building. We have a document that any damage to the building resulting from the construction would be addressed by UBCO.”

Next door, the Royal Canadian Legion building, which was built in 1972, has likely sustained the most damage.

“There’s cracks in the outside wall and there’s cracks in drywall inside and some separation in the floor,” Lorne Thompson, chair of the Legion’s building committee told iNFOnews.ca. “There’s nothing structurally that is going to keep us out of the building or anything.

UBCO’s contractors have already made some repairs to the building, he said.

This is the hole being dug for the underground parking for the UBCO tower.

(ROB MUNRO / iNFOnews.ca)

“They’ve been very good about it,” Thompson said. “We’re not overly worried about it at this point. We just need to keep on top of it – they do actually.”

The third building across the alley from the building site for the 43-storey tower is the McWilliams Centre. UBCO bought it from the Central Okanagan school district last December.

UBCO does admit to damage being caused to all three buildings but in an emailed statement to iNFOnews.ca from Nathan Skolski, UBCO’s associate director of public affairs, he minimizes the extent of the damage.

“Some cracking is visible in the exterior stucco and finishes to the Legion and the McWilliams Centre buildings, both of which are immediately adjacent to the site,” Skolski wrote.

He said the damage is less to the McWilliams and Hadgraft Wilson buildings than to the Legion.

READ MORE: UBCO takes out record $262M building permit for downtown 'vertical campus'

“Given the scale and depth of the project, ground settling was always anticipated,” Skolski wrote. “We are proactively in communication with neighbouring properties to assess and monitor the impact of construction on their structures.

“This includes the use of advanced ground-penetrating radar to help identify any changes below ground that could affect the stability of the surrounding buildings and we have installed a variety of sensors to keep careful track of progress. Additionally, a team of structural and geotechnical engineers have been on site conducting weekly assessments to ensure the ongoing safety of the area. These inspections are intended to detect potential risks early on and to ensure timely interventions when necessary.

“UBC has performed an in-depth engineering assessment of the Legion and the McWilliams Centre to ensure that they are safe to occupy despite the visible cracking. The engineering team has concluded that the buildings are structurally sound and safe.”

He didn't know if similar testing was being done on Doyle Avenue and St. Paul Street that are even closer to the construction site and did not respond with further information on that question as of publication time.

Highrises in Kelowna are normally built on raised parking podiums rather than digging down to create underground parking due, in part, to the downtown area’s high water table.

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