Halifax Community Centre Construction Resumes, After Possible COVID-19 Exposure
HALIFAX – A large construction project in Halifax has resumed today, following a possible exposure to COVID-19 on the worksite.
According to a spokesperson from the City of Halifax, construction work on the St Andrew’s Community Centre was halted on March 31st and resumed this morning after intensive cleaning was completed.
According to the spokesperson, the City was notified immediately by its contractor, PCL Construction Canada Inc. (PCL), of the possible coronavirus case, and acted quickly.
“PCL took immediate action, and the possibly exposed employee is in 14-day quarantine and is showing no symptoms,” wrote the spokesperson in an email. “PCL also brought in Inflector Environmental who disinfected and cleaned the job site and will be cleaning both the on-site washroom and the PCL office trailer twice a day going forward.”
“The quick and thorough action of PCL in this situation is greatly appreciated. The site was closed for a few days but has now resumed operations with these new measures in place.”
There are approximately 40 people working on the St. Andrew’s Community Centre rebuild, which has an estimated price tag of $11,298,345. The workers, as per Nova Scotia’s state of emergency guidelines, must stay two metres apart from each other while on the jobsite.
The building was originally constructed decades ago to be a school and was slated for demolition in May of last year, in order to be completely rebuilt. The new 31,700 square-foot structure was originally scheduled to be completed in September 2020.