UBC Properties Trust responds to civil claim blaming it for damage near construction site

In that response, UBC Properties Trust is not taking full responsibility.

The group building the UBC-Okanagan tower in downtown Kelowna, B.C., has legally responded to a civil claim that blames the construction project for structural damage and subsequent displacement of dozens of people.

In that response, UBC Properties Trust is not taking full responsibility.

“It is like a slap in the face once again,” said Monique Saebels, a former Hadgraft-Wilson Place resident.

It was March 2024 when cracks started to appear throughout the building, which was not even a year old.

Several other buildings in the area reported similar damage, which occurred during the construction project’s excavation phase.

“I was pretty surprised to read UBC Trust defence to our civil claim…the sheer lack of accountability,” said Megan Beckmann, who also lived in Hadgraft-Wilson Place.

The response filed this week states, “UBC Defendants admit that some damage was experienced by Hadgraft-Wilson Place, the CoLab Building, and the Legion Building, but denies the nature and extent of damages alleged, and further denies that all such damage was caused by the excavation and construction activities on the Lands, and put the plaintiffs and putative class members to the strict proof thereof.”

The UBC defendants went on to state that,  “all material times they reasonably relied on the professionals and contractors they had retained to complete the excavation and construction activities safely on the Lands.