Ministry offices closed due to ‘unsafe’ concrete floors

Photo: DutchNews.nl
The Dutch parliamentary complex in The Hague. Photo: DutchNews.nl

Some 14 offices and meeting rooms in two ministry office blocks in The Hague have been closed off to staff because the floors are said to be potentially unsafe.

The home affairs and the justice ministry complexes have both been affected by the scare, which has been caused by the incorrect use of pre-fabricated concrete slabs.

Justice minister Sander Dekker told broadcaster NOS the floors had been found to be problematic several months ago. The two office complexes were both opened in 2013.

The problem with the floors was first highlighted when a car park at Eindhoven airport collapsed last September and hundreds of other buildings are also potentially at risk, NOS said.

For example, Erasmus University’s Polak building was closed for several months because of doubts about the floor. It was reopened at the beginning of this month. Part of the Windesheim hbo college in Zwolle has also been closed while repair work is carried out.

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