Engineer behind faulty Langford highrise loses licence, ordered to pay $57,000 for incompetence

The structural engineer behind a faulty highrise apartment building in Langford, B.C., has lost his engineering licence and must pay more than $50,000 in fines and legal costs for incompetence and  unprofessional conduct.

Brian McClure's licence was cancelled after the regulatory body Engineers and Geoscientists British Columbia concluded its investigation into the design of the 11-storey Danbrook One building, which has since been renamed RidgeView Place.

The investigation found the structure's engineering did not meet the requirements of the B.C. Building Code, the provincial regulatory body said Thursday.

McClure must pay a fine of $25,000 – the maximum allowable under the law, according to Engineers and Geoscientists B.C. – and will also pay $32,000 in legal costs to the regulatory body.

Problems with the building in the 2700-block of Claude Road first came to light in December 2019, when the City of Langford took the unusual step of warning residents of the new build that their homes might be structurally unsafe.

The 90-unit building, which had won an award for excellence from the Victoria Real Estate Board just a month earlier, was at that time the subject of an investigation by Engineers and Geoscientists B.C. Langford also hired an outside engineering firm to independently review the safety of the structure, one of the city's tallest.

The building's occupancy permit was soon revoked and more than 200 tenants were ordered to leave by the building's owner, Centurion Property Associates.

After more than two years of repairs, the building was renamed RidgeView Place and was set to start renting again last month. Its address was also changed from 2776 Claude Road to 2770 Claude Road.

'SERIOUS BREACH OF TRUST'

On May 9, McClure admitted to unprofessional conduct in the building's design. Specifically, the building's design drawings were deficient, its seismic and gravity-load resisting system were non-compliant with the building code, and "significant defects identified in the structural design drawings demonstrated incompetence," according to Engineers and Geoscientists B.C.

"McClure also admitted he failed to undertake an adequate design process, did not perform a sufficient number of field reviews or properly document those reviews, and failed to take adequate steps to address serious concerns about the building's design that were brought to his attention during construction," according to the engineering body.

McClure is no longer allowed to practise professional engineering in B.C. He is barred from applying to have his licence reinstated for two years and must complete a series of examinations and reviews in order to practise again.

"We expect our registrants to apply the appropriate standards, codes and technical expertise to every project they work on,” said Engineers and Geoscientists B.C. CEO Heidi Yang in a statement Thursday.

"The public deserves to have confidence that their homes are being designed to rigorous standards, and this case represents a serious breach of that trust. As a result, the individual involved can no longer practise professional engineering in British Columbia."