Victoria Trail Remediation

Victoria Trail Apartments, located in the Northeast edge of Edmonton, is a four-story building that houses 40 units. Williams Engineering (WE) was originally engaged to repair, rebuild, and bring the Victoria Trail Apartment balconies up to the proper safety codes. While the balcony redesign was underway, an occupied unit on the fifth floor had a fire event which burnt the entire roof and extensively damaged all of the fifth-floor units. Additional water damage occurred to the rest of the structure during the fire fighting. WE’s focus was the reconstruction of the fifth floor and the rest of the damaged building.  After the fire, Victoria Trail Condo Corporation’s needs shifted to forensic engineering, as well as a structural, mechanical, and electrical analysis of the building and code checks.

The balconies suffered extensive water damage which included building envelope issues, affecting the wood structure of the balcony’s columns, beams, joists and decking. The WE structural team was challenged with coming up with a better balcony design that was economical and would fit in with the overall building. The scope of the fire remediation included a reconstruction of the fifth floor and roof. A structural analysis was performed of the floor loading, roof loading, and load bearing walls. Additionally, floor and joist repairs had to be completed as well.

The fire in the building posed a unique challenge to our multidisciplinary team, as they had to analyze and determine the adequate strength and systems of the damaged structure in order to meet current building code requirements. Overall, the project was a success and the building and balconies were brought up to code.  Tenants comfortably reside in Victoria Trail Condominiums and can confidently enjoy their balconies throughout the year.