That time Save-On-Foods Metrotown collapsed during its grand opening

A 6,400 sq ft section of the Station Square Save-On-Foods rooftop parking collapsed into the store below in 1988. (Government of BC)

Over three decades ago, nearly 1,000 people were packed into a newly-built flagship Save-On-Foods grocery store at Station Square for its grand opening celebration event.

Within a few minutes of the store’s opening, 20 cars parked on the rooftop parking of the store came tumbling down into the produce area. A 6,400 sq ft section of the store’s roof — equivalent to the size of about three tennis courts — collapsed at 9:15 am on April 23, 1988.

Miraculously, although 21 people were injured, there were zero fatalities.

It was the quick thinking of former firefighter and then-Burnaby mayor Bill Copeland, who was on hand for the opening ceremony, and the store’s employees that likely saved many more people from being injured and even killed.

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Over the 4.5-minute period prior to the collapse, there were visible and audible signs of an imminent structural failure underway.

The severity of the incident prompted the provincial government to conduct a full-scale inquiry on the contributing factors that caused the collapse, and the lessons to be gained for the architecture and engineering professions, and the overall construction and development industry. The scope of the implemented changes to the sector followed major safety reforms in other aspects of construction years earlier after four workers tumbled to their death during the construction of the Bentall Four office tower in 1981.

The findings of the Save-On-Foods store collapse and recommendations to avoid a similar future tragedy were finalized and published four months later in August 1988.

save on foods station square collapse 1988

Minutes before the 1988 Station Square Save-On-Foods roof collapse, there were visible and audible signs of an imminent structural failure. (Government of BC)

According to the inquiry report, there were 600 senior citizens attracted by special discounts and about 370 employees inside the store when staff went on the public address system to ask customers to evacuate the building. Initially, before the severity of the issue was understood, staff only told everyone inside to move to the front of the store.

Eyewitnesses could hear popping and cracking noises, a steel beam was rotating and deforming, a ventilation duct had sagged, and a water pipe running through a column under the steel beam had ruptured.

“I could see the distortion of the post, and looking up from that you could see that there was distortion above, on the beam, and I knew at that moment that something disastrous was going to happen,” said Copeland in his testimonial to the inquiry.

On the rooftop parking level, a photographer told the inquiry he heard a crunch that sounded like a large truck hitting a cement barricade, and then saw two rows of cars “bouncing up and down.”

Minutes before the 1988 Station Square Save-On-Foods roof collapse, there were visible and audible signs of an imminent structural failure. (Government of BC)

The testimonial details not only falling debris as the cause of the injuries but the blast of air from the falling slab of concrete and metal, with those inside describing it as “like a tornado going through.” People were knocked off their feet by the gust.

There were many contributing factors to the structural failure.

The original plans for the Save-On-Foods building — one of several buildings in the Station Square development being built at the time — did not include parking on the single-storey, steel-frame structure spanning an area of 90,000 sq ft. Ultimately, the rooftop parking was built with a capacity for about 235 cars.

The rooftop parking was added after one of the contractors bidding for the contract suggested its inclusion in December 1986 during the prequalification process.

Diagram showing the structural failure of the Station Square Save-On-Foods roof parking, leading to its 1988 collapse. (Government of BC)

A 6,400 sq ft section of the Station Square Save-On-Foods rooftop parking collapsed into the store below in 1988. (Government of BC)

The inquiry found that there was a lack of coordination and communication between subcontractors.

Investigators were also critical of the common “fast-tracking” process of design-build, whereby construction begins before the design is finished, which leaves insufficient time for building design professionals to properly perform due diligence. Fast-tracking was a common practice to shorten the construction timeline, reduce construction costs, and reduce opportunity costs by allowing financial returns to realize earlier.

As a result of poor project organization, there was a gross miscalculation by the structural engineers in the load requirements of the roof with parking.

The design drawings outlined a rooftop parking lot layer comprised of a topping of a three-inch thick wearing surface, a four-inch layer of light styrofoam insulation as the middle layer, a thin waterproof membrane, and a 2.5-inch thick corrugated steel-concrete structural deck as the base layer, which doubled as the internal ceiling of the store. The centre of the roof also had a north-south, six-inch-high pedestrian walkway

But what was actually built was thicker, including a 0.25-inch thicker surface topping, and a 0.5-inch thicker styrofoam insulation layer. Moreover, the pedestrian walkway was expanded from its original width of five feet and six inches wide in the architectural drawings to an additional three feet for a total width of 11 ft and six inches for what was actually constructed.

Site plan of Station Square’s Save-On-Foods rooftop parking, with the 1988 collapse area highlighted. (Government of BC)

Cross-section diagrams showing Station Square Save-On-Foods’ roof parking level’s thickness as shown in the architectural blueprints (left) and the thicker layers that were actually built (right). (Government of BC)

The thicker roof layers and the thicker and wider pedestrian walkway were not properly accounted for in the weight load factors. The additional concrete walkway alone added 24,500 pounds of extra weight on a flawed beam inside the store.

The internal beam and column in the produce area were designed by an experienced engineer and built by an experienced steel subcontractor, but for unknown reasons, the beam was downsized — changed from a width flange of 24 inches deep weighing 104 lb per linear foot to 24 inches weighing 76 pounds per linear foot.

The inquiry found that the beam was “greatly underdesigned” and the beam column “lacked essential lateral supports.” One way or another, “failure was inevitable.”

Diagram showing the inadequate structural columns for Station Square’s Save-On-Foods building. (Government of BC)

Diagram showing the structural failure of the Station Square Save-On-Foods roof parking, leading to its 1988 collapse. (Government of BC)

Following the collapse, Station Square’s owners at the time suspended construction on the remaining phases of the mall complex. The redevelopment of the former Ford Motor Company car manufacturing plant site was started in 1985 by Georgilas Investments, and the project was acquired in 1986 by Wesbild Enterprises and Station Square Developments, which retained Urban Design Group Architects for design work and overall project coordination.

The store roof was later repaired, and it reopened.

There was no wrongdoing on the part of the municipal government.

The incident had a profound impact on the professions of architecture and engineering in British Columbia, changing their practices, regulations, and standards.

The inquiry’s 19 recommendations in the fallout included audits of structural engineering drawings and calculations by independent engineers, requiring structural engineers to pass a special examination before becoming qualified, creating a provincial manual of recommended construction practices, and division of responsibilities between property owners, architects, engineers, contractors, and suppliers, and revising steel industry construction manuals to provide more accuracy.

Before — Original iteration of Station Square between 1988 and 2013:

The original Station Square mall before its redevelopment construction starting in 2013. (City of Burnaby)

After — Completed redevelopment of Station Square in 2022:

Aerial of the redevelopment of Station Square, as of 2022. (Google Earth)

The previous iteration of Station Square, now largely demolished, comprised mainly of low-storey structures, with a parkade occupying much of the 12-acre lot. The southern half of the complex included a hotel, condominium towers, office space, retail units, Future Shop (now Best Buy in another footprint), Famous Players’ Station Square Cinemas (later under Cineplex), and ground-level parking, while the northern half included a large parkade, the Save-On-Foods, and a handful of smaller businesses such as Red Robins restaurant.

Anthem Properties, along with development partner Beedie, acquired Station Square in 2004 with an eye for its high-density, mixed-use redevelopment.

After a decade of construction, the new Station Square officially reached completion in August 2022. The redevelopment was designed by local firm Chris Dikeakos Architects and New York-based Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates.

Before — Original iteration of Station Square between 1988 and 2013:

Southern half of the original Station Square, 2011. (Google Maps)

After — Completed redevelopment of Station Square in 2022:

Southern half of the original Station Square, 2022. (Google Maps)

The northern half of the site has been largely retained and significantly modernized, and the theatre has been converted into additional retail/restaurant space.

The southern half has been demolished, accounting for almost all of Station Square’s transformation — comprised of five towers reaching up to 57 storeys, containing about 1,800 homes in the upper levels and 450,000 sq ft of office and retail/restaurant space in the base podiums. A major office tenant is WeWork, while significant tenants activating the pedestrian-friendly streets include Cactus Club and Earls restaurants.

Save-On-Foods returned to Station Square through its sister brand PriceSmart Foods, located within the base of a condominium tower at the southeast corner of the intersection of Silver Drive and Kingsway.

Station Square forms one portion of the core area of the City of Burnaby’s Metrotown Downtown Plan. The same type of high-density, mixed-use building development typology within a pedestrian-oriented street grid can be expected for the future redevelopments of the adjacent Metropolis at Metrotown mall by Concord Pacific and Ivanhoe Cambridge.

Before — Original Station Square mall before redevelopment in 2011:

The original Station Square in Burnaby’s Metrotown in 2011. (Google Maps)

After — Station Square redevelopment under construction in late 2020/2021:

The new Station Square redevelopment in Burnaby’s Metrotown under construction in December 2020. (Google Maps)

Station Square in October 2021. (Kenneth Chan/Daily Hive)

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