How old are Edmonton’s condominium buildings? Counts by decade and pipe era

One in three Edmonton condo building addresses with four or more residential units was built in the Poly-B years, but they hold about one in four of those addresses’ unit records.

The table counts condominium building addresses by when they were built. Alberta Municipal Affairs says Poly-B was introduced to the Alberta construction industry in the mid-1970s, that it would not be in a home built before 1975 unless plumbing renovations have since been carried out, and that manufacturers stopped producing it in 1998. The table therefore groups addresses as built before 1975, from 1975 to 1998 and after 1998.

Newer buildings are larger, which is why the two shares differ.

The addresses built from 1975 to 1998 average 33.7 unit records each. Those built after 1998 average 58.0. A unit record is a condominium unit in the City’s property records. It approximates a home, but it is not a count of households or people.

The 2000s and the 1970s built the most condominium building addresses.

Each address is counted once, in the decade of the earliest year reported for it. The 2000s produced 447 addresses and the 1970s produced 405. By unit records the 2000s and 2010s lead, because the buildings of those decades are larger. The 2020s row covers only 2020 to 2026.

About half of the addresses are already 30 years old or more.

51.3% of the addresses (953) were built in 1996 or earlier, and 42.6% (791) in 1986 or earlier, counting from 2026. Age alone does not say that a building’s pipes have failed or will. It does mean that many Edmonton boards manage buildings that were built decades ago. See how long building pipes last.

What the year built can and cannot tell a board about its pipes.

A build year narrows the possibilities. A building from before 1975 is unlikely to contain Poly-B unless plumbing was renovated since, and one built well after 1998 is unlikely to have it in its original plumbing, because manufacturers stopped producing it in 1998. A building from 1975 to 1998 might contain Poly-B, copper or a mix, and some may have had plumbing work since, so only records or an assessment can say.

The City’s year built is not a pipe record. A building’s drawings, permits, repair history and, where needed, a pipe condition assessment are the places to find out what is in the walls.

• Find your building’s year built and any construction phases in its own records. The City’s figure may differ.
• Ask what has been replaced since: risers, hot water lines, branch lines and fittings.
• If the building is from the Poly-B years, read Poly-B pipe in Edmonton condominiums and check the records before assuming anything.
• If the building has copper and leaks keep returning, see pinhole leaks in copper pipes and pipe materials in condominium buildings.
• To replace a guess with evidence, see pipe condition assessment.

How the numbers were counted.

ProShield counted condominium building addresses using the City of Edmonton’s Property Information and Property Assessment datasets, as they stood on September 2, 2026.

Residential condominium units that share a legal plan and a civic address are grouped into one building address. An address counts as a multi-unit building address when four or more residential condominium unit records share it. Each unit’s property record carries a year built, and an address takes the earliest and the latest year reported by its units.

In the decade table each address is counted once, in the decade of its earliest year, and the median year built is the middle value of those earliest years. In the first table an address counts in a group only when all of its years fall inside that group. Otherwise it appears in the row for addresses that span two or more groups.

Adding the complexes and the addresses with two or three unit records gives 3,007 dated condominium records. 34.4% of them were built from 1975 to 1998, so the share by address barely moves. By unit records that group rises from 25.8% to 34.1%.

Limits of this data.

Read the counts as a picture of the City’s records, not as a census of buildings or of pipes.

• The City says the information is collected for property assessment interpretation purposes only, and that it does not warrant or guarantee its completeness and accuracy.
• Year built is a single year on each unit’s property record, and the dataset description does not say whether it reflects renovations, additions or re-piping.
• A civic address is not always one physical building, and some buildings have more than one address.
• 238 of the 1,858 addresses report more than one year built across their units. The City’s data do not say why, and phased construction is one possible reason.
• The description of the City’s Property Information dataset states an effective period of 2025, while ProShield retrieved the data on September 2, 2026.
• Only condominium properties inside the City of Edmonton are counted. Other communities, rental buildings and co-operatives are not.
• The counts describe building addresses and unit records, not owners, residents or pipes.

Reuse and attribution.

Contains information licensed under the Open Government Licence – City of Edmonton. The counts on this page are ProShield’s own analysis of that information, and the City has not endorsed them. If you use the counts, please cite this page and its date.

Where ProShield fits.

ProShield investigates leaks, documents where water appeared and how it behaved and helps a building plan protection. A build year is one input to that conversation. ProShield does not repair or replace pipes. See LEaC Shield building assessment and water leak detection.

Sources and further reading

1. Alberta Municipal Affairs: Safety tips on polybutylene (Poly-B) pressure water piping (2016)
2. City of Edmonton (Open Data Portal): Property Information (Current Calendar Year)
3. City of Edmonton (Open Data Portal): Property Assessment Data (Current Calendar Year)
4. City of Edmonton (Open Data Portal): Open Government Licence - Edmonton (version 1.0)

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