Ottawa LRT construction received numerous fails from city building inspectors, documents reveal
Jon Willing, Ottawa Citizen
Updated: September 12, 2018
Parts of Ottawa’s $2.1-billion LRT project failed inspections by city building inspectors, who walked away unsatisfied by some of the work they saw at construction sites.
Many of the failed inspections between Jan. 1, 2015, and Sept. 20, 2017, were related to plumbing and fire safety, according to more than 400 reports reviewed by this newspaper through an access-to-information request.
Inspectors reviewed various parts of the construction, such as mechanical, plumbing, foundation and fire safety, and wrote an assessment for each inspected element.
The large majority of the inspections were listed as progress inspections or inspections that resulted in passing grades.
However, there were 63 times when an inspector recorded a “fail” and called for a re-inspection of a constructed element.
Interested in the quality of construction on the Confederation Line, this newspaper initially filed the request for information on Sept. 20, 2017; about 10 months later, the city signed off on the release of the inspection reports. The reports provide a glimpse into the quality of work on the city’s largest-ever infrastructure project, to which all three levels of government have contributed significant public funds.
The city announced this week another delay in the completion of the LRT project. It’s not expected to be ready for customers until the first quarter of 2019, instead of the promised November 2018 launch.
Rideau Transit Group, the consortium building the Confederation Line, has an internal quality-control system designed to catch any faults in construction. When there is a mistake, it’s recorded in a “non-conformance report,” the fix is made, or the issue is accepted if there isn’t a major problem, and the file is reviewed by the city. Non-conformance reports are standard in the construction industry and the LRT project has produced many, such as those related to concrete.
However, the city itself has its own inspection requirements under the Ontario Building Code. A team of inspectors working for the city is tasked with making sure elements of the LRT system, like all other construction projects in Ottawa, are built to standards under provincial law.
John Buck, the city’s manager of building inspection and enforcement, estimated that his staff have completed between 1,100 and 1,200 inspections of the LRT system. The reports viewed by this newspaper reveal only a snapshot of that work. Four out of the city’s roughly 50 to 55 field inspectors are dedicated to the LRT project. Under the building code, the inspectors are required to complete an inspection within 48 hours of a request by a contractor, but the city strives to respond sooner, Buck said.
It can consume precious time when inspectors have to return to any job site to re-check pieces of construction that generated failed inspections.
“Can it be frustrating? Absolutely,” Buck said, but he added that it’s just part of the building process.
“It’s our jobs to look critically and raise these deficiencies.”
The reports illustrate the problems inspectors have found at LRT worksites.
An inspector recorded a fail in April 2017 after reviewing plumbing in the downtown tunnel and learning that about 60 vertical sanitary and stormwater pipe locations had blockages.
When an inspector reviewed the roughed-in plumbing work at the uOttawa station in August 2016, he also recorded a fail, noting that several tasks still needed to be completed before the concrete pour, such as ensuring the pipes had the right slope and pressure.
An inspection of plumbing around Lyon station in the first half of 2017 reported damage to the weeping tile from concrete and reinforcing steel. Inspections related to the same building permit flagged the need to prevent sand and grit from entering the plumbing system and the need for a control valve on the station.
At Blair station in May 2016, an inspector recorded a failed inspection after reviewing the piping in a mechanical room.
Inspectors are also tasked with reviewing fire protection measures.
There was a failed inspection at Rideau station in October 2017 because the construction of walls around an escalator weren’t being built to have fire separation, which prevents the spread of fire.
In September 2017, an inspector recorded a fail because a sprinkler line wasn’t installed properly at Hurdman station.
During another inspection in December 2015, an inspector wasn’t able to verify that the fire-detection system worked at St. Laurent station.
An inspection of the fire-stopping and fire-separation infrastructure also failed in June 2015 at the maintenance and storage facility.
An inspector filed a failed inspection at the train storage facility on Belfast Road in March 2016 after noticing problems with the fire-suppression system and a lack of documentation.
There were also failed inspections when it came to excavations.
After an inspection at the uOttawa station in February 2017, an inspector recorded a fail after learning an excavation and foundation were completed without a city inspection, requiring the builder to produce several reports on the work. A similar failed inspection happened in January 2017 at St. Laurent station, with the inspector asking for documents after the contractor had already finished the excavation and foundation.
Inspectors have also run into challenges trying to do their jobs.
One inspector noted in a November 2015 report that he wasn’t allowed to take a picture of a catwalk in the maintenance and storage building “due to security reason.”
(Alstom, the LRT vehicle provider, has previously restricted access to the facility to prevent the disclosure of its vehicle-building techniques).
Failed inspections are sometimes logged for reasons not necessarily related to the infrastructure itself.
A report in September 2017 says a site meeting was requested by the contractor at the storage facility on Belfast Road but that no one was available at the site. The contractor didn’t answer his phone.
RTG community liaison officer Conrad McCallum sent an emailed response to questions on behalf of the company. RTG was asked for an explanation for inspections that fail and whether the company has been requesting inspections too early in the construction process.
“RTG has requested interim inspections during the course of construction to provide documentation and access for visual inspection to prove conformance to (Ontario Building Code) requirements,” the company says.
“This is an example of best practices in regards to open and transparent communication with our city building department. RTG and (the building code services branch) have been working collectively to conduct timely inspections during the course of the project as a project delivery method to achieve occupancy.”
Building inspectors have been “very accommodating” in working with RTG during the LRT construction, the company says.
“The (LRT) project has multiple phases and activities that require building code consultation and approval,” RTG says. “The city’s building code inspectors have been proactive in this exercise and RTG will continue to work conjointly with the building code services branch through the inspection process in the final phase of the project.”
Properly building transit infrastructure is in RTG’s interests since the company’s maintenance arm is contracted to maintain the rail system, including the Stage 2 Confederation Line expansion, until 2048.
Alan Shaw, the chief building official in Sarnia and the immediate past president of the Ontario Building Officials Association, said finding deficiencies in construction is very common, which means failed inspections aren’t unusual.
“The primary reason a building inspector would fail a project is because they don’t want you to proceed with other things before you get this right,” Shaw said, adding that “to fail an inspection is not the end of the world.”
If there were perfectly built projects all the time, there wouldn’t be a need for building code inspectors, Shaw said.
“We’re there to catch the stuff that other people miss,” he said.
In Ottawa, Buck said the city’s team of building inspectors is short-staffed by about 10 to 15 per cent. The city is trying to recruit new inspectors in a competitive market. Later this month, council is scheduled to consider a proposal to spend $1 million to hire 12 more staff in the building code services branch.
The branch’s workload will only grow as the city embarks on the Stage 2 expansion in 2019.
“It has taxed our resources somewhat,” Buck said of Stage 1. “We’ve also spent many years on office work even before construction got underway on the permitting side.”
The team of four inspectors are committed to making sure the LRT system is constructed according to the law, Buck said.
“They’re invested and they’re proud of their work,” Buck said. “They feel its very critical to the city and the project.”
— with files from Drake Fenton
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