Ontario Science Centre to close immediately

**Pimento Cheese** · Jun 21, 2024, 12:03 PM

What a coinkidink! Well, that will speed up the process of selling to Ford's developer buddies so they can gentrify a low-rent community and build high-priced condos in an area that just happens to be designated near a stop of the Ontario Line. Funny how these things happen!

What an awful, blatantly corrupt piece of garbage Ford is. Shame on everyone who voted for him. It's not like anyone with a brain couldn't see exactly who he is.

**Marty Canuck** · Jun 21, 2024, 01:15 PM

Originally posted by Arthur Dailey View Post

Well is Doug Ford more cunning than we give him credit for or does he just believe that the voters will accept this as being coincidental?

Ford government closing Ontario Science Centre today after report found roof in danger of collapsing
Robert BenzieQueen’s Park Bureau Chief, and Rob FergusonQueen’s Park Bureau - The Star - June 21, 2204

Does this count as a “Drink”?

**Bosco** · Jun 21, 2024, 02:09 PM

Cmon - this structure has got to be getting annual inspections due to its age - no prior issues cited - unless someone just realized them same guys doing the inspection on that mall up in Elliot lake had the maintenance contract?

**Jeffc** · Jun 21, 2024, 02:36 PM

Originally posted by Marty Canuck View Post

Does this count as a “Drink”?

Nope. There must be mention of the prince of darkness himself.

**4wedges** · Jun 21, 2024, 02:39 PM

Originally posted by Jeffc View Post

Nope. There must be mention of the prince of darkness himself.

Give him time.

**Marty Canuck** · Jun 21, 2024, 03:16 PM

The article (CBC I think?) said that the concrete used on the Science Centre is the same type used at a bunch of UK schools that suddenly started to fail. If the intent is not to have people needlessly killed by the roof suddenly falling in I certainly prefer that they are proactive towards safety.

**Fore Warned** · Jun 21, 2024, 03:19 PM

Originally posted by Arthur Dailey View Post

Well is Doug Ford more cunning than we give him credit for or does he just believe that the voters will accept this as being coincidental?

Ford government closing Ontario Science Centre today after report found roof in danger of collapsing
Robert BenzieQueen’s Park Bureau Chief, and Rob FergusonQueen’s Park Bureau - The Star - June 21, 2204

A report released by Infrastructure Ontario, in relation to the planned move of the science centre to Ontario Place, warned the ravine-straddling building “is not sustainable under status quo conditions and is in operational crisis due to a failing structure with mounting critical building maintenance costs.”

The 62-page report by consulting firm Ernst & Young was dated March 8, 2023 but not revealed until November when it was presented as a “business case” for the controversial move, stating it would cost $600 million more to fix up the old science centre than to build a new one.

Well, we were made aware that there were repairs that were necessary.....but no one told us that "the building is not sustainable and in operational crisis".

Yet the Province continued to operate the building for 15 months after the engineering report was out.

So why were we not warned of the imminent danger back then, why was it not shut down at the time ...or when the report was released in November, and why now?

There are just so many things that are not adding up here.

**Arthur Dailey** · Jun 21, 2024, 04:15 PM

Originally posted by Jeffc View Post

Nope. There must be mention of the prince of darkness himself.

Yep, that is the rule.

And we do not take the 407 to get to the Science Centre. Or should I say 'did not'.

Ironically 3 members of my family made a visit to the Ontario Science Centre just over 2 weeks ago. Did that put them in imminent danger? If the structure was found unsound in March 2023 why was it kept open, with no warnings to the public for an additional 15 months?

**Jeffc** · Jun 21, 2024, 04:47 PM

Originally posted by Fore Warned View Post

Well, we were made aware that there were repairs that were necessary.....but no one told us that "the building is not sustainable and in operational crisis".

Yet the Province continued to operate the building for 15 months after the engineering report was out.

So why were we not warned of the imminent danger back then, why was it not shut down at the time ...or when the report was released in November, and why now?

There are just so many things that are not adding up here.

and why was it neglected for so long to get this point?

**Jeffc** · Jun 21, 2024, 05:41 PM

x.com

https://x.com/TDotResident/status/1804281212816568659

According to the Ontario Science Centre report, only a small fraction of the roof panels are a "critical" risk, and only 2%-6% of the panels are "high" risk. Over 90% of all the total roof panels are "low" risk.

x.com

https://x.com/alexbozikovic/status/1804249332318900658

**Chambokl** · Jun 21, 2024, 06:15 PM

This is so ridiculous. Another decision that will cost thousands of $$ for absolutely no reason. All the employee will be paid until October . . . just like that. I wonder what else it will cost . . . instead of announcing that it would close in 3 months . . .

**Pingeye2_fan** · Jun 21, 2024, 07:19 PM

So what is the engineers connection to Ford?

**Pingeye2_fan** · Jun 21, 2024, 10:47 PM

Hearing only $13 million is needed to repair the roof.

**Arthur Dailey** · Jun 22, 2024, 10:23 AM

From today's Globe, by Jeff Gray:

Many say the relocation is aimed at helping to justify the government’s decision to allow Austrian-owned Therme Group to build a large waterpark and spa at Ontario Place, where the province has pledged to provide an underground parking lot expected to cost hundreds of millions of dollars.

The engineering report, prepared by the firm Rimkus Consulting Group, lists as its first recommendation that if the building’s high-risk roof panels are not replaced by Oct. 31, there should be “restricted access or full closure to prevent any persons from walking in areas where high risk panels are present.” As other options, it says shoring underneath panels or hoarding could be erected, with areas closed off.

Michael Lindsay, the president and CEO of Infrastructure Ontario, told reporters the work would cost $40-million and take two to five years.

The decision to shut the Science Centre permanently, he said, also takes into account a long list of other deficiencies, including its ventilation and water systems, and the recent failure of a boiler that would have left the facility’s auditorium and great hall without heat this winter. Its long internal pedestrian bridge has been shut since 2022, requiring visitors to take shuttle buses to its exhibits.

Seventy-nine other provincial buildings with similar roofs are now being monitored for the same problem.

The Science Centre’s board agreed to shut the building down on Thursday night. Barriers had already started to go up midday Friday around the building. But the decision blindsided employees, who were to be told at a town-hall meeting on Friday afternoon.

“It’s going to be a demo-viction, demolition by neglect, at the end of the day, if we don’t keep holding them to account,” Jason Ash, co-chair of the citizens group Save Ontario’s Science Centre said in an interview.

And from today's Star:

Some 250 workers — including 200 members of the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union — will be affected but they are not immediately losing their jobs.

Political opponents charged Ford wanted the 55-year-old building to become unusable so he could more easily relocate the science centre to the waterfront by 2028.

But the 52-page Rimkus Consulting Group engineering report, illustrated with photographs of damaged areas, found the air-filled concrete used in construction is nearing the end of its life.

The lightweight aerated concrete used in the construction has “the potential to degrade due to water infiltration,” the review said.The report states one science centre roofing panel is in the “critical” category, another six per cent of the panels are “high risk,” nine per cent are “medium risk” while the remaining 84 per cent are “low risk.”

Rimkus recommended all such roof panels be replaced with steel decking, which would cost between $22 million and $40 million and take two to five years.

While the report, which will be peer-reviewed for a second opinion by another engineering firm, said the building isn’t unsafe right now, the risk of rain or snow buildup means the reinforced steel underneath could further corrode and fail.

To that end, it must be vacated by Oct. 31. The sudden shutdown gives time for staff to remove exhibits before danger levels heighten.

When the Star broke the news Friday, it was initially business as usual at the science centre, with the main parking lot about three-quarters full and the bus lot jammed with school buses bringing students for end-of-term field trips.

About 80 other public buildings across Ontario with the same type of concrete are being examined, but no others are being shuttered yet.

The material in question — known as reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete or RAAC — was a popular choice in institutional and industrial buildings from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s.

Ontario Science Centre to close immediately