Could Edmonton experience a Penhorwood style building disaster?

The city’s director of safety codes says what happened to condo owners in Fort McMurray is unlikely to happen in Edmonton.

Earlier this month – seven condo buildings were evacuated after an engineer determined they were unsafe – leaving hundreds of people without a place to live.

An engineer’s report indicated the foundation of the Penhorwood apartments was putting pressure on gas lines and the joists were failing.

A lawsuit launched by the condo association is holding everyone from the developer to the building inspector responsible.

Edmonton’s director of safety codes says a similar scenario is unlikely to happen here – because there are too many independent checks and balances.

"It would be very difficult for a building site to have fraud happen because you would need collusion with all the partners. The architect would have to agree with the design engineer to do something fraudulent, the contractors would have to agree to do something fraudulent with the sub-trades and that’s not what happens." Maurice Otto, the Edmonton Director of Safety Codes says.

According to the director – site superintendents are responsible for doing inspections of condo or apartment construction projects – but the city also carries out site checks.