Main car park on campus closed with immediate effect due to tear in ceiling

On Wednesday morning, the campus’s security guards used methods such as the intercom in the various buildings on campus to call on people to remove their cars from the multi-storey car park beneath Erasmus Plaza because a tear had been found in the ceiling of the bottom floor of the car park. Car owners were told to move their cars to the Mandeville Building car park. The motorist entrances to the car park on both sides of the campus have since been closed off with tape and orange barriers.

The tear was found in the ceiling at level -2, near pedestrian exit No. 3, and is about one metre long. An Erasmus University spokesperson stated that the builder of the contractor who constructed the car park ‘investigated the situation and found that the tears were not causing any acute danger’. “It’s a localised problem, and the overall construction is sound,” said the spokesperson.

The parking spaces immediately beneath the tear have been closed off with red-and-white tape and barriers. The tear itself has been propped up with aluminium beams and wood. No signs of damage can be seen above the tear on the level above, but that parking space, too, has been closed off with tape. There is red-and-white tape at the motorist entrance to the car park, and some (but not all) pedestrian entrances have been closed, as well.

More than 35 cars still there

Closing Polak

• Polak evacuated: “We were suddenly told to leave the building”
• Polak to remain closed – but EUR will be adding extra study areas
• Polak Building declared completely safe for use

Hardly any cars are left on the bottom floor of the car park, but there are still more than 35 cars on the level above it. For the time being, the car park will remain closed for safety reasons and to allow a further investigation. “This will hopefully show us what measures will be needed to allow us to start using the car park safely again.”

People who come to the campus by car can park their cars in the Mandeville Building car park. “This closes at 10.30pm on weekdays and is closed on weekends and national holidays,” the university wrote.

The square and the other places on the roof of the underground car park will remain open as usual. Scooters and bicycles are parked exactly above the spot where, two floors down, the tear was found. They can remain where they are.

This was not the first time that the university decided to vacate one of its facilities. In October 2017, the Polak Building suddenly had to be vacated due to a risk of collapse caused by an unsafe floor construction. It was found to be the same type of construction as the one used in a car park at Eindhoven Airport, which had collapsed earlier that year. The building remained closed until enough changes had been made to guarantee that the building was safe for use.