On August 2, the Fort Saskatchewan residents of one building of the Riverview Estates condominiums were evacuated due to an engineering assessment that the building is structurally unsafe.
Upon learning about the evacuation, APEGA contacted the City of Fort Saskatchewan’s safety codes officer and its director of protective services. APEGA confirmed with the City that the structural engineering firm and professional engineer on record for the structural design of the building were Jacobsen Hage Engineering and Sven Hage. In addition, APEGA provided the City with the current status of the firm and engineer.
In December 2004, one year after the condominiums were constructed, APEGA cancelled the engineering permit for Jacobsen Hage Engineering. This means the company was no longer allowed to do any engineering work in Alberta. In February 2005, Sven Hage resigned his APEGA licence to practise, meaning he was no longer allowed to do any engineering work in Alberta. These were both due to unrelated disciplinary findings of unskilled practice and unprofessional conduct involving structural engineering.
Due to provisions in the Engineering and Geoscience Professions Act, APEGA can take no further action against Hage. The current legislation limits investigating complaints to two years following the cancellation or resignation of a person’s licence. As part of APEGA’s legislative review, we are working with the Government of Alberta on more than 160 APEGA-recommended changes to modernize and strengthen our legislation, including the limitation on investigations.
Established in 1920, APEGA regulates the practices of engineering and geoscience to serve the public interest in Alberta.
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For more information, please contact:
Gisela Hippolt-Squair
Assistant Director, Communications
Tel: (587) 489-1567 or toll free 1-800-661-7020
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