Reopening of the Europa building
The Europa building will reopen on Tuesday 7 November. Staff with offices in the building will return to their offices, and the meeting rooms can be used as normal. The kitchens will remain closed.
The closure of the Europa building was a precautionary measure following technical incidents in the kitchens over two weeks ago. Since then, expert teams have carried out exhaustive investigations into the cause of the incidents.
These investigations have revealed a number of defects in the central kitchen drainage system, which meant that under certain conditions fumes generated by a mix of cleaning products were able to re-enter the kitchens from the kitchen drains. The fact that the kitchen drainage system is separate from all other drainage and ventilation systems in the building limited the problem to the kitchens. Tests have confirmed this to be the case.
Action will be taken to rectify the defects affecting the kitchen drainage system. Only when the safety of the kitchens can be fully guaranteed will they be reopened.