New Tower Glazing Inspection & Sealant Maintenance in Brentwood

Brentwood's residential building stock is newer than any other neighbourhood in Allweathercoating's service area. The current development wave — anchored by projects like Concord Brentwood, The Amazing Brentwood mixed-use redevelopment along Lougheed Highway, and the Brentwood Block development — has produced a concentrated cluster of 30-to-65-storey glass and concrete strata towers around Brentwood Town Centre SkyTrain station. These buildings feature full-height curtain wall glazing, post-tensioned concrete floor plates, and aluminum balcony railing systems typical of premium transit-oriented development in Metro Vancouver. Because much of this building stock is less than 10 years old, the immediate maintenance priorities are establishing first annual window cleaning programs, performing initial close-up sealant inspections as structural silicone systems reach the five-year check interval, and setting up parkade traffic membrane programs before first-cycle cracking allows chloride penetration.

Alongside the new towers, Brentwood retains a significant inventory of 1990s and early-2000s concrete strata buildings along Alpha Avenue, Willingdon Avenue, and Rosser Avenue. These mid-rise buildings — typically 10 to 20 storeys — have been partially overshadowed in profile by the new development wave but represent an active maintenance market. Their polyurethane expansion joint sealants are 20 to 30 years old and approaching or past replacement thresholds. Balcony membranes on many of these buildings have reached end of life, and concrete balcony slab edges are showing the first signs of carbonation-induced rebar corrosion. We work with strata councils for this generation of Brentwood buildings on systematic sealant renewal and concrete restoration programs.

The large-format commercial podium structures at The Amazing Brentwood — including the retail mall and office components of the development — require commercial facade maintenance programs distinct from residential strata work. Extensive glazed storefronts, metal panel cladding, and exposed concrete structural elements at grade and podium level require annual inspections, joint sealant maintenance, and periodic facade washing to maintain both weatherproofing performance and tenant-facing appearance standards. We coordinate with commercial property management teams at Brentwood's commercial nodes to schedule facade maintenance during low-traffic retail hours, minimizing tenant disruption while meeting landlord maintenance obligations.

Townhome complexes in the lower-density residential blocks of North Burnaby adjacent to Brentwood — particularly the older wood-frame strata complexes along Gamma Avenue, Delta Avenue, and the residential streets between Willingdon and Gilmore — require the soft-washing, stucco crack sealing, and window perimeter caulking maintenance that is standard for wood-frame multi-family construction in Metro Vancouver's wet climate. We service these townhome complexes alongside the high-rise towers, providing Brentwood strata management companies with the convenience of a single contractor for both building types in their portfolios.

Brentwood occupies a slightly inland position relative to Vancouver and Lower Lonsdale, which moderates direct marine salt exposure compared to waterfront neighbourhoods. However, the concentration of very tall new towers — several exceeding 40 storeys — elevates wind loads at upper floors to levels that exceed what ground-level weather station data would indicate. At the 30th floor of a 50-storey Brentwood tower, wind speeds during winter storm events can be 30 to 50 percent higher than at street level, and the corresponding increase in wind-driven rain pressure against glazing joints and curtain wall caps is significant. Our rope inspection programs for tall Brentwood towers specifically address upper-floor joint conditions, probing structural silicone on the top third of the building where cumulative wind stress is greatest and where failures would have the most direct consequence for penthouse and high-floor suite residents.

The rapid pace of new construction in Brentwood means that multiple strata towers are completing each year and establishing their first-ever maintenance programs. Newly completed buildings are covered by BC Housing Home Warranty — a 2-5-10 year warranty program that requires strata corporations to perform and document specific annual maintenance tasks including window washing and sealant reviews to maintain warranty coverage. We provide newly-completed Brentwood strata councils with documented first-year and ongoing annual maintenance programs that satisfy BC Housing warranty maintenance requirements, ensuring that strata corporations do not inadvertently void their warranty coverage by failing to execute or document required annual maintenance visits.

Brentwood's proximity to the Millennium Line SkyTrain creates practical constraints for rope access work on towers adjacent to the guideway, consistent with the same electrical proximity safety requirements that apply near the Expo Line in Metrotown. We conduct pre-job SkyTrain proximity assessments and implement WorkSafeBC Regulation Part 19 electrical safety controls when planning rope setups on the Brentwood towers nearest to the guideway. For ground exclusion zones on Burnaby's public roads and sidewalks around the Brentwood Town Centre station area, we secure City of Burnaby street use permits and coordinate traffic control plans with the City to minimize impact on the pedestrian flows around one of Burnaby's busiest transit hubs.

Construction activity in Brentwood is ongoing, with multiple large tower projects simultaneously under construction adjacent to occupied strata buildings. Construction dust, concrete fines, and silica particulate from active concrete pours contaminate building facades of neighbouring occupied towers, accelerating silt and mineral bonding on glass surfaces and increasing sealant surface contamination. We recommend that Brentwood strata councils adjacent to active construction sites increase window cleaning frequency during construction periods to an annual or semi-annual cycle, preventing construction particulate from bonding permanently to glass and interfering with sealant adhesion on joint surfaces that may need replacement in the future.