Vancouver Aquatic Centre closes temporarily after part of facade collapses

Vancouver Park Board officials have closed the Vancouver Aquatic Centrefollowing the collapse of part of the building's facade Tuesday night.

In an email, a Park Board spokesperson said the collapse took place sometime after the centre had closed on Tuesday at 10 p.m. PT.

Nobody was injured in the collapse, which included a large section of second-storey wall, measuring roughly three metres high and 10 metres wide.A secondpiece of wall around the corner could be seen dislodged, but still hanging from the building's structure.

The centre initially remained open on Wednesday, with visitors asked to use a side entrance, but by noon, officials had closed it completely.

"Out of an abundance of caution, we will be closing the Vancouver AquaticCentre for the remainder of the day while staff continue to assess building," the Park Board posted on Twitter.

A spokesperson said on Wednesday that following the assessment, staff will have a better idea of the cause of the collapse, as well as the closure timeline.

The centre was built in 1974 at Sunset Beach, next to the Burrard Street Bridge. In 2015, flooding in the mechanical room took out the electrical system.

In 2019, the Park Board published its report, VanSplash: Vancouver Aquatics Strategy, which identified the centre as nearing the end of its functional lifespan and not meeting the current seismic requirements.

The plan to replace it includes a large-scale pool along with outdoor aquatic amenities to take advantage of the waterfront location.