Elliot Lake prompts roof concerns in Sudbury

Since the June 23 roof collapse at the Algo Centre Mall in Elliot Lake, killing two people, Sudbury’s building control department has received a number of calls from residents worried about the state of roofs in town.

Guido Mazza, the city’s director of building services, said his department has received four to six calls, and they have checked on the complaints. While some issues exist, there are no concerns near the level of what took place in Elliot Lake.

“We’ve received some requests from people, living in various structures that include underground parking and roof parking, and so we’ve done inspections, because that’s our obligation, to inspect (reports of) unsafe conditions,” Mazza said.

“We’re working with the owners and the consultants to look at the various issues we’ve uncovered. A lot of them are serviceability issues, like rust on an electrical conduit on a steel beam … In other cases, where we think there might be a little more to it, we’re working with the owners and their structural engineers to look things over. ”

In most cases, Mazza said work has already been done to deal with concerns, or is in the planning stages.

“For instance, at St. Andrew’s Place, the Larch parking structure, the Rainbow Centre Mall, the Lockerby Towers — there are a number of buildings that have already had maintenance done on them, and, obviously, that’s ongoing,” he said.

“For the most part, I characterize the landowners around here as good citizens. They’re reinvesting in their buildings, doing maintenance. I don’t have absentee landlords.”

In Elliot Lake, the roof of a flat parking structure collapsed, the cause of which is under investigation by the coroner’s office and the OPP, and will be subject of a provincial inquiry.

Mazza said parking lot structures in Sudbury are built differently than the structure in Elliot Lake. Rather than the core slab construction used at the Algo Mall, structures in Sudbury use entirely poured concrete or poured concrete on steel decking and steel frame.

“I don’t have anything here like what was in Elliot Lake,” he said, adding that he’s not in a position to comment on what happened there. He only knows the situation in Sudbury.

“I’m more interested in alleviating fears that people may have, as opposed to speculating about things I have no first-hand knowledge of.”

There is no requirement for building owners to conduct inspections. While the city is obligated to investigate complaints, maintenance work is done similar to the way homeowners take care of their roofs.

“Much as is the case when you own a home and the shingles start curling and need to be replaced, you hire somebody to do the work,” Mazza said.

Unlike a house, the process is more detailed for commercial properties, where the work must be planned by architects or engineers, depending on the extent of the work, who give the mall owner recommendations on what work needs to be done.

Then the owner applies for a building permit, at which point the city reviews the plan to make sure it conforms with the building code. The work must also be supervised by a professional engineer, which the property owner must hire. The engineer must also file a letter when the work is done that states it was done properly.

City building inspectors do parallel inspections alongside the engineers to ensure everything is done properly.

Mazza took pains to emphasize that owners of commercial buildings in Sudbury are responsible and are investing in their buildings to ensure they’re viable.

“The economy here in Sudbury is strong, such that it behooves them to keep their investments well-protected,” he said.

“Where we typically get into trouble here is where we have an absentee landlord. But those are typically residential structures, that have years of decay, and the owner has passed away. Typically, we go in because the neighbours are complaining about the property’s structure.”

Mark Boulton, co-owner of Greenscan Infrared Thermography Service, said the key to maintaining a flat roof in a place with Sudbury’s climate is regular inspection.

His company does infrared scans of flat roofs. The scans are done in the evening, because the parts of the roofs affected by water leaks retain heat longer because they are wet, and the scans show where the leaks are located.

“So we can see under the membrane and we can tell whether there’s damage,” Boulton said. “The scans can tell us, in detail, what condition the roof is in.”

He said there are a lot of flat roofs in Sudbury, particularly in malls. For example, his company does regular inspections of the Montrose Mall in Sudbury, which is in excellent shape, he said.

“If you catch problems early, it’s a lot easier and cheaper to fix,” he said. “But if you let it go and let it go, like in Elliot Lake, the result can be catastrophic.”

The tragedy took the lives of two people, Lucie Aylwin, 37, an employee of Collège Boréal, and Doloris Perizzolo, who was in her 70s.

Investigators believe they were both at the mall’s lottery kiosk, where Aylwin was working, at the time of the collapse. The OPP, after first conducting an investigation on behalf of the Chief Coroner of Ontario, announced this week it is conducting a criminal investigation into the incident.

It took rescue crews four days — and more than 100 hours — to recover the remains of the victims. The collapse happened June 23, and the victims were pulled from the rubble June 27.

Despite hearing tapping noises, the rescue effort was called off at one point because of fears related to the structural integrity of the mall. Specialized equipment, including a robotic arm, were brought in from Toronto, but it was too late to save the victims.

The OPP has established an information line for anyone with information that could help with the investigation. The information line is 1-855-677-4636 (1-855-OPP-INFO).

Posted by Arron Pickard