As reported on CBC News, an engineer who has worked on Canadian embassies around the world has been banned from working in B.C. after an investigation found his designs for a condo tower in Surrey were not up to building code standards.

John Bryson finished his structural designs for the building in 2013. The provincial regulator launched an investigation into Bryson’s work the following year, after someone filed a complaint, and found certain aspects of Bryson’s work did not meet certain requirements of the B.C. Building Code used at the time — particularly with respect to wind and seismic design.

The building has been completed and occupied, but neither the regulator nor the City of Surrey is making public which of the city’s condo buildings is the one in question, saying only it is a “highrise residential tower.”

Neither body has expressed any immediate fears that the building is unsafe. On Tuesday, the city said in a statement that there is “no information of any present public safety concerns,” but added it will now be working with the strata corporation to determine whether there are any safety issues with the tower.

The city, citing confidentiality concerns, declined to provide a reason for withholding the address.

Bryson, whose name was on the door at his own Vancouver-based firm, resigned as a registered engineer on April 1 after signing a notice admitting to unprofessional conduct. The regulator, Engineers and Geoscientists B.C., also ordered him to pay $240,000 in penalties and costs. Bryson did not respond to request for comment.

“This is a rare but very serious offence,” Ann English, CEO of EGBC, said in a disciplinary notice posted to the regulator’s website. “The public deserves to have confidence that their homes are being designed to the current standard, and it’s a serious matter when that trust is betrayed.”

At the time Bryson was working on the Surrey tower, the 2006 B.C. Building Code was in effect, but the investigation found parts of his plan drew from a newer, national code instead.

Keep reading on CBC News

 

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