Water damage closes down Harry Hays building

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Water damage closes down Harry Hays building

Canoe.ca - Canada

By TARINA WHITE, SUN MEDIA

http://calsun.canoe.ca/News/Alberta/2007/06/09/4248528.html

Staff at the Harry Hays building downtown have an unscheduled

holiday on Monday while environmental inspectors scour the

facility's sanitary conditions.

Water damage has temporarily closed down the Harry Hays and

officials aren't yet sure when the facility — and its passport

office — will reopen.

The building, located at 220 4 Ave. S.E., will be closed Monday to

its 1,600 employees and the public due to damage sustained in the

record rainstorm that pounded Calgary last week, said Tom Corrigan,

spokesman for Public Works and Government Services Canada.

" We want to make sure the environment is safe and healthy for

everybody, " he said.

" We really apologize to the employees and the public for the

disruption. "

Three floors of the building suffered water damage after a pipe

burst during last Tuesday's round of flash flooding.

The building was closed for one day last week and then reopened

until Friday, when what Corrigan called a " suspicious material " was

detected inside the passport office.

Environmental consultants have been brought in to test whether the

substance is harmful, said Corrigan, who didn't have specific

details about its nature.

He said the building will be closed all day Monday while the testing

is completed.

Passport applications are still being processed at the south

location at 14331 Macleod Tr. S.

It's not the first time testing has been carried out on a suspect

substance inside the Harry Hays building.

In the fall of 2005, routine air-quality tests in the building led

to the discovery of mould in the caulking around the atrium

skylight.

When work began to remove the mould in the atrium skylight, asbestos

was discovered in fireproofing material in the ceiling above.

Mould was also discovered on the fifth and sixth floors of the

building at the time, although officials said the potentially

noxious substances did not pose immediate health risks.