Comprehensive engineering review ordered for downtown Calgary highrise with history of broken windows

Engineering review for Calgary highrise Brookfield Place in downtown Calgary is undergoing an engineering review to find out why windows keep breaking.

A comprehensive engineering review has been ordered on a downtown Calgary highrise with a history of glass panes shattering.

The latest incident happened Dec. 16, 2021 at Brookfield Place, in the 200 block of Sixth Avenue S.W. when a window pane broke on the 27th floor, sending shards of glass raining onto the sidewalk below.

A portion of the sidewalk was closed so an examination of the affected windows could be done.

"Due to the reoccurring nature of glass falling from Brookfield Place, The City of Calgary’s Safety Response Unit (SRU) has since further directed the building owner to undertake a comprehensive engineering review of the exterior of the building to determine the root cause of the failures," read a statement from the city.

"The property owner continues to remain responsive and has brought in forensic engineering professionals to complete this examination and determine next steps for repair. Safety remains our priority."

The sidewalk and partial lane closure will remain in place until the engineer for the property owner can determine the risk of further failures have been mitigated.

It was the latest in a series of incidents involving broken glass falling from the highrise completed in 2017.

A window washing basket smashed into a 23rd-floor window on Oct. 15, 2017 and, two weeks later, on Oct. 29, 2017, pieces of glass fell from another window during a period of strong wind.

In April of 2016, shards fell from a 33rd-floor window while the tower was being built. The cause of that incident has not been confirmed.