Residents of a Fort Saskatchewan condo building have been forced out of their homes after engineers and city officials determined the four-storey building is structurally unsound.

The order was issued for the 44-suite building at 8 a.m. Friday.

According to city officials, residents first flagged to members of the condo board last Friday that the floor appeared to be “spongy."

A city engineer was brought in to investigate, and after a week-long investigation, officials determined that floor joists on the ground floor had been compromised, and the problem was more widespread than they initially thought.

The neighbouring condo building is not affected. The city says it was built two years earlier with different construction.

Alberta Health Services, the Red Cross and Fort Saskatchewan’s Incident Management team are on scene assisting residents.

Residents of at least 26 suites did not have another place to go, and are being supported by Red Cross.

No timeline has yet been set for residents to return.

Fort Saskatchewan is about 40 kilometres northeast of Edmonton.