The Royal Bank of Canada office building evacuated after a hydro vault explosion underground earlier this month will remain closed for at least six months due to damage.
A series of blasts in the city’s financial district sent commuters scrambling along King Street West shortly after 5 p.m. on May 1 as heavy black smoke billowed from a set of grates.
No one was injured in the electrical fire, but the RBC building, along with parts of an underground shopping concourse were evacuated due to heavy smoke, fire officials told CP24 last Monday.
Employees were notified this week that they won’t be back in the office tower for months, CP24 has uncovered.
The bank says 20 King Street West will be closed for business for at least six months.
“Based on the environmental assessments and remediation work which is required, it will be a minimum of six months before our employees can return to the building,” RBC spokesperson Catherine Hudon said in an email to CP24 on Tuesday.
Workers have been moved to other RBC locations since the fire and the bank is considering renting another property for a short time, Hudon added.
Toronto Hydro has not yet completed its investigation into why the hydro vault – which includes high voltage transformers – exploded, Tori Gass, a spokesperson for the utility company said.
While Toronto Fire isn’t clear on what caused the blow out, Platoon Chief Kevin Shaw told CP24 earlier that “typically rain, humidity, dampness seems to get into the infrastructure that may be a little bit older and deteriorate.
“They cause these fires,” he speculated.
In the meantime, Hudon explains the building will not be used.
“We will return to the building once the experts have deemed that it is safe to do so,” she said.
