Roads closed after gas incident at former Post and Mail
ROADS have been closed and an office tower evacuated today after gas main incident at the former Birmingham Post and Mail building.
A trio of roads in Birmingham city centre – Printing House Street, Weaman Street and Whittle Street – along with the NCP car park have been closed this afternoon.
Nearby office tower Colmore Plaza was evacuated but neither Lloyd House – headquarters of West Midlands Police – nor Birmingham Children’s Hospital were affected.
Property entrepreneurs Alan Chatham and Mark Billingham are redeveloping the former newspaper offices and printing presses into a mixed-use residential, retail and office complex.
Mr Chatham told TheBusinessDesk.com: “I don’t think there’s been an explosion. The demolition contractor is on site but we are not allowed to enter at the moment.
“I honestly don’t know what’s happening at this stage, it all just speculation and everyone is trying to find out what has happened.”
The Birmingham Resilience Team is reporting a fire broke out as a result of a “ruptured gas main in the basement of the old Post and Mail building”.
An eye witness told TheBusinessDesk.com: “The whole area was sealed off and the fire services looked to be busy but from what I could see, there didn’t appear to be anyone injured.
“Roads surrounding the building were closed but it didn’t appear to have caused too much traffic disruption, however, workers from Colmore Plaza were evacuated.
West Midlands Fire Service said it was unable to confirm how long any closures in the area would remain in place and would issue further updates when more informationwas available.
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