‘Twas a Sunday morning scare for the residents of Block 201E along Tampines Street 23 yesterday when a concrete structure on the topmost floor dislodged by itself.
Fortunately, the massive sunshade on the fourth storey didn’t topple onto the ground — nor did it cause a chain of disintegrating structures. Instead, the concrete beam simply rested on a fellow sunshade on the third storey.
The authorities were called in for assistance, and the police arrived at 10.20am to cordon off the vicinity. Town council staff deployed workers to help secure the dislodged sunshade, while a crane was mobilised to remove the whole thing.
Following inspections, the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and the Housing and Development Board revealed that the block itself remained structurally safe — the collapse of the architectural facade will not affect the structural integrity of the building.
More importantly, no injuries were reported. Many could have been if the facade did fall off the block and smash onto the ground below.
The BCA has ordered that the Tampines Town Council engage a professional engineer to carry out an investigation and recommend permanent rectification works. The engineer will also be inspecting other HDB blocks in the vicinity with the same sunshade as an added safety precaution.
