U of O still pouring money into mouldy residence years after shutdown
Brooks Residence closed in 2018 due to mould and other concerns
CBC News
Posted: Sep 08, 2023 4:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 5 hours ago
A long-closed residence continues to cost the University of Ottawa tens of thousands of dollars a month, internal documents show.
Documents obtained by Radio-Canada through a freedom of information request also suggest the university had suspected the presence of mould inside Brooks Residence years before it was closed in September 2018.
The university shut the building after mould spores were detected in some apartments, a spokesperson told Radio-Canada in an email.
According to the school, the mould was likely caused by construction defects that allowed water to infiltrate the building.
The university sent Radio-Canada the estimated electricity costs for the complex during each month from June 2019 to April 2023.
The bill for February 2023 alone was $43,000. The lowest monthly bill during that time period was $9,500 in September 2019.
Built for $23 million, the large residential complex on King Edward Avenue between Thomas More and Marie-Curie privates housed more than 700 students each year from 1987 to 2018.
Although its lifespan was estimated to be 60 years when it opened, the complex was only occupied for half that time.
Today, it sits nearly empty.
Only the Garderie Bernadette Child Care Centre, a parking lot and a few law school classrooms remain. Those facilities are housed in a building adjacent to the residence that's been unaffected by mould.
Much of the rest of the complex is cordoned off by yellow fences.
The University of Ottawa Students' Union has denounced the lack of information available about the residence.
Amine El Idrissi, the union's acting commissioner for Francophone affairs, said the university has lacked transparency and kept students in the dark on the future of the property.
He said he hopes the land the building occupies can be used to rehouse students facing obstacles to finding accommodations.
"To see this empty and dilapidated building is a pity for the university, but especially for our students," El Idrissi said.
This year, the University of Ottawa is expecting a waitlist of about 100 students once its 4,000 residence apartments have been filled.
Six years before the closure, the University of Ottawa suspected a considerable mould problem had developed between the walls of Brooks Residence.
In a draft letter to students dated December 2012, the university said inspections would be carried out between Christmas Day and New Year's Day. The problem, it said, "could lead to the evacuation of these buildings, if the health of the occupants is at stake."
Student relocations did not begin until February 2018, more than five years later.
Marcelle Desmornes, president of the union that represents support staff at the University of Ottawa, said in a French-language email she was "aware of the health and safety problems" that contributed to the closure of the residence.
"We have communicated our concerns to the employer," she said. "To date, the problems have not been resolved."
In an email to Radio-Canada, University of Ottawa spokesperson Jesse Robichaud said in French that water damage had been reported in the Brooks complex before 2018, but the decision to close the facility permanently was based on several factors, including the presence of mould spores.
Robichaud said the entire complex will eventually be demolished and replaced but a construction date has not yet been set.
With files from Radio-Canada's Gabriel Le Marquand Perreault
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ottaw...sing-1.6959759
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