Leaning north-end Hamilton home to be partially demolished

The City of Hamilton says a precarious new build in the north-end will be partially demolished in the coming days after a threat of collapse forced neighbours out of their homes.

The city says the building at 75 Ferrie St. is expected to be taken down on Monday, but that could happen sooner.

Officials are stepping in after the owners of the property weren’t able to comply with an order that was issued earlier this month.

The Ontario building code required them to submit ongoing monitoring reports of shoring measures and the start of either realignment or demolition within one week of the initial order being issued.

Now, the city has decided that partial demolition would be the most economical approach to bring it down safely.

WATCH MORE: Leaning north-end Hamilton home no longer an ‘imminent risk’: city

The leaning structure on Ferrie Street East forced neighbours out of their homes amid fear of the building collapsing after an off-duty city inspector noticed the problem at the beginning of the month.

As of now, it’s unclear how much the demolition will cost, but that ultimately will fall back on the owner.

“Probably the biggest inconvenience is to the two that are adjacent neighboring properties, the property remains fenced off, the road is closed right out in front of this house.” says Bob Nuttall, of the city.

“We’re going to try to limit the impacts as much as possible so the owners will still have access to their homes and they can sleep in their homes. We will have the contractor and staff available to make sure the entrance ways are protected at all times during construction and demolition.”

There is no specific timeline, but the manager for building inspections anticipates it will take a couple of weeks to wrap up.

READ MORE: Neighbours of leaning north end Hamilton house told to leave indefinitely