Expert calls partial collapse of downtown Ottawa parkade a ‘wake-up call’

The partial collapse of a downtown Ottawa parkade Wednesday morning is being called a wake-up call by one expert.

“I would consider it to be an indicator that we perhaps need to invest more in our infrastructure, whether it is a public infrastructure, private infrastructure,” said Christian Viau, an assistant professor of structural engineering at Carleton University.

“Because if people don’t take care of their buildings or their parking garages etc., people can die, unfortunately.”

A downtown Ottawa parking garage remains closed after a section of the top level collapsed early Wednesday morning. The collapse sent piles of snow and concrete down three levels to the ground and damaged several vehicles.

• Downtown Ottawa parkade closed after top floor collapses, 50 vehicles trapped

No one was hurt in the collapse.

Scott Lockhart, the city’s deputy chief building official told Newstalk 580 CFRA that large piles of snow on the roof of the structure was “without a doubt” a contributing factor but wouldn’t rule out other causes.

“To have that mass in that area, without a doubt it contributed, but whether it was the only cause, we won’t know that for some time,” he said.

Wednesday’s collapse comes more than a decade after two women were killed when the roof of a shopping mall collapsed in Elliot Lake, the result of years of neglect. The roof of a vacant building in Orillia, Ont. also collapsed on Monday, with the weight of the heavy snow that recently fell across the province being blamed for the structural failure.

“This was absolutely designed to withstand our snow loads. That being said, the structure is designed to withhold that compacted snow from the snow removal taking place over the last week or so, that has yet to be answered,” said Viau.

Crews began to remove exterior walls from the collapsed section of the structure on Wednesday afternoon.

The City of Ottawa is waiting for an engineering report to determine the next steps for the building. The city says the garage “was of some age,” suggesting it was built in the 1980s.

This story will be updated