Eighth Avenue Place tower probed after third falling debris incident

An investigation has been called into what caused a white, chalky liquid to fall from a downtown skyscraper and cover at least six cars.

Marco Civitarese, the senior special projects officer with the City of Calgary’s building regulations, said the Eighth Avenue Place tower near the corner of 9th Avenue and 5th Street S.W. has now been the site of at least three incidents involving falling debris.

"This is the third incident since April. We’re very concerned and I’m very disappointed, in fact," he said.

The city has asked the construction company, EllisDon, to stop spraying steel with the white flame retardant believed to have fallen from the 49-storey structure on Monday. Civitarese said they will not be allowed to resume until the company submits a plan to prevent similar accidents from happening.

Last week, a metal band about 2.5 centimetres wide and three metres long fell from the building and landed on an Acura. Nobody was hurt and the damage was minor.

In April, a piece of plywood fell from the site during a windstorm.

Civitarese said the white substance, which covered several cars in a parking lot on the opposite side of 9th Avenue, was a mixture of ground gypsum and waste water. Investigators are still trying to determine how the substance — which is not toxic — fell from the building.

"Until we get the full report, we’ve issued a letter of a stop-work notice," he said.

Alberta Occupational Health and Safety is also investigating, according to spokesman Chris Chodan.

He said investigators will be looking for the physical effects and eyewitness statements. They will also try to determine whether EllisDon contravened any safety legislation.

"It looks like the company setting the fireproofing admitted it did have a spill of cleanup water," he said. "The investigation isn’t over at this point."

James Haldenby, the operations manager for EllisDon in Calgary, said the company would compensate car owners for any cleaning costs incurred by the falling fluid.

"What we’re getting is that it takes one car wash and everything is dandy," he said.

The company is also investigating, he added.

jgerson@theherald.canwest.com