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UBCO calls for remediation work to start on Hadgraft Wilson Place 'as quickly as possible,' offers to help with repairs

UBCO urges quick repairs

UBC Okanagan says it has offered to help with repairs of Hadgraft Wilson Place, the subsidized apartment building in Kelowna that has been evacuated for nearly a month.

In a statement Monday, the university said it has extended a request through BC Housing to be granted access to the building “as quickly as possible to assess possible repairs.”

“As this property does not belong to UBC Properties Trust, we are awaiting decisions by BC Housing and their insurance providers to provide any engineering reports or advice that highlight the extent and nature of any needed remediation,” the statement said.

“Given that these engineering assessments were commissioned by BC Housing and their insurers, we do not have access to them at this time and cannot speak to their findings, if any.”

The building has sustained damage as a result of the excavation of the adjacent downtown Kelowna campus site.

Eighty-four residents of Hadgraft Wilson Place, which opened in June 2023 to cater to those with disabilities, were issued an evacuation notice on March 31.

After an initial stay in local hotels, it was announced Friday that the evacuated residents would be moving into the new student residences at Okanagan College’s Kelowna campus.

“We are very appreciative of the accommodation and support that Okanagan College is able to offer to displaced tenants from Hadgraft Wilson Place. The college is close to downtown and to a variety of services, so it provides an excellent option for residents,” said UBCO’s statement on Monday.

UBCO’s own student residences are also being made available.

“We have a variety of housing units that can accommodate the different needs of the HWP tenants. As space becomes available, Hadgraft Wilson Place residents who wish to stay at UBCO are more than welcome.”

Work continues on the downtown UBCO site to raise the overall depth of the excavation through the placement of gravel in the hole.

“We are advised by independently peer-reviewed professional engineers that the shoring wall, first identified as the root of earlier concerns for the safety of HWP, remains stable and that raising the excavation depth will further mitigate the potential for any future soil settlement on adjacent land,” the school said.

A statement from the City of Kelowna Friday said it would be “several months” before residents can return to Hadgraft Wilson Place.

“Decisions on the conditions necessary for the evacuation order to be rescinded will be made by the City of Kelowna and the fire chief,” UBCO said. “We are actively urging all parties to allow remediation work to begin, if required, as quickly as possible so that residents can return to their homes swiftly and safely.”

The 43-storey UBC Okanagan tower planned for 550 Doyle Avenue included plans for a four-storey underground parkade, a first for Kelowna that requires a large excavation. That big dig has created significant problems for neighbouring buildings. The Kelowna Legion Hall on Bertram Street and Okanagan coLab at the corner of St. Paul and Doyle were also previously declared uninhabitable.

UBC Okanagan says it has now changed those plans, given the ongoing problems with the excavation, and there will now be two levels of underground parking rather than four.



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