Two stone cladding pieces fall from Raffles Place building, no one hurt

Two pieces of stone cladding fell from the facade of Bharat Building in Raffles Place on April 10, breaking part of the glass canopy that shelters the property's entrance. PHOTO: LIM WUI LIANG

SINGAPORE - Two pieces of stone cladding fell from the facade of Bharat Building in Raffles Place on Wednesday (April 10), breaking part of the glass canopy that shelters the property's entrance.

The pieces fell from near the top of the 10-storey commercial building, which was built in 1990.

The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) said it is investigating the incident and confirmed there were no reported injuries from it.

The authority received a call from the police around 3.30pm about stone cladding that had fallen at 3 Raffles Place, a BCA spokesman said.

The Straits Times understands that the incident occurred around 1pm.

BCA engineers at the site assessed that the structural integrity of the building was not affected by the incident.

As an immediate precautionary measure, the affected area directly below the fallen stone cladding has been cordoned off, said the authority's spokesman.

BCA has instructed the building owner to appoint a professional engineer to investigate the cause of the incident and inspect the condition of the rest of the stone cladding, as well as to carry out permanent rectification works as recommended by the professional engineer.

The building is jointly owned by UCO Bank and Indian Bank.

As of 6.15pm, the affected area of the building was still cordoned off as the building owners awaited a professional engineer to give the okay before removing it, ST understands.

When contacted, UCO Bank declined to comment as it had already reported the incident to the BCA.

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