Leaky pipe forces prisoners out of Winnipeg police HQ

A leaky pipe forced the Winnipeg Police Service to move prisoners and vehicles out of its downtown headquarters last Friday and now there are concerns about the integrity of the concrete in the garage.

The police service has ordered an engineering study after officers discovered flaking concrete in the building's parking garage. After some of the concrete was peeled away, rusting metal supports were found.

These latest incidentsare another chapter in the controversial facility's past that includes millions in cost over-runs and and anRCMP investigation.

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A police spokesperson saidsome staff and vehicles had to be moved out Friday after water was discovered coming through a ceiling panel and was done "to err on the side of caution."

Approximately 10prisoners were taken to the East District Police Station.

"The last thing we want to do is we can't appropriately take care of people who are in our custody, who we are responsible for," saidConst.Rob Carver.

Winnipeg policeofficers who had suspects in custody Friday evening processed them through the East Station for a period of time before the pipe leak was identified and repairs started.

The hot water feed pipe began leaking after an anchor holding it failed. The scale of the damage was modest and staffare looking at what caused the pipe to begin sagging and leaking.

Initially, there was concern the leak was coming from cooling lines to the building's computer systems, prompting the rapid movement of prisoners and equipment..

The building is equipped with extensive back-up features and the moves the service took last week were precautionary, Carver said, adding the leaky pipe doesn't appear to be a structural defect with the building.

"Like any new building you move into or any retrofitted building, there are some growing pains...small things fail in a building this size and you are going to have a water leak. You are going to have them in new houses and you can have them in a new office tower," Carver said.

Deficiencies in the building have cropped up since it opened last June. The most recent example are design flaws in part of its heating-and-ventilation system.

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The leaky pipe may be an isolated incident in the storied building's history, but potentially more concerning is a patch of concrete on the ceiling of one level of the parking structure.

Concrete flaking on the ceiling prompted a deeper examination of what's happening and the patch has intentionally been chipped away to reveal some rusted metal support pieces.

Carver saidthe flaking prompted a closer look.

"We want to make sure this doesn't lead to or suggest any bigger issues. To understand why that happened, we are going to have some engineering studies done," Carver said.

A section of the parking level above where the concrete flaking started has been taped off to restricttraffic.

"Is there is some weakness we don't want that weakness to be exacerbated by driving large vehicles on it. So until we are confirmed that this is limited to just this area and not structural, we want to make sure that we don't have any further damage," Carver said.

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The police service has become sensitive to questions swirling around the building's defects and cost overruns.

Carver saidit's important to meet each concern head-on and publicly.

"I think there is a sense that there is rumours,there is stories. Today is the opportunity to say, 'Here is exactly what's going on and try and answer every question and that a full and complete picture is being put out,'" Carver said.

Overall, the members and staffare satisfied with the new facility andthe burst pipe and examination of the concrete flaking in the parking area are the only issues that have surfaced recently, Carver said.

The City of Winnipeg is aware of the issues.

"The city is conducting an assessment to determine the potential remedial scope of work required," communications managerDavid Driedger said in an emailed statement.

Leaky pipe forces prisoners out of Winnipeg police HQ

7 years ago

Duration 2:28

A leaky pipe forced the Winnipeg Police Service to move prisoners and vehicles out of its downtown headquarters last Friday and now there are concerns about the integrity of the concrete in the garage.