Two Esquimalt apartment buildings home to about 30 residents were evacuated Tuesday morning after a portion of a driveway next to an excavation site collapsed and some shoring on one side gave way. 

One of the buildings, home to about half the displaced residents, was cleared for occupation by early afternoon. Word on the assessment of the second building is expected Wednesday.

The excavation, which was within metres of one of the buildings, was for a development underway at Constance Avenue and Admirals Road.

Calgary-based Eagle Crest Construction is building Constance House, a six-storey, 83-unit rental development with two levels of underground parking, at the site. 

Esquimalt Assistant Fire Chief Neal Widdifield said the fire department received a call between 8 a.m. and 8:30 a.m. from the contractor to say there had been a cave-in from the excavation. 

“I believe when they showed up this morning is when they found out,” he said Tuesday. “What you see there is some shoring that’s let go and so we’ve evacuated two buildings. 

“We’ve now had some engineers come by — they’ve done an assessment of the building of the slope.” 

Geotechnical experts were also called in and WorkSafeBC was at the scene. 

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