St. David’s Hall in Wales is set to temporarily shut down.

In a statement, Cardiff’s council said, “St David’s Hall is to temporarily close to the public to undertake additional checks on the Reinforced Autoclaved Aerated Concrete (RAAC) panels in the building. The decision has been taken in light of the recent change to advice on RAAC in public buildings issued by the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and following further discussions with the Council’s appointed independent structural engineers, and the council’s insurers.”

The statement added, “The council has been aware of RAAC in St David’s Hall and the need to manage it from a health and safety viewpoint since 2021, and it has always followed government guidelines and advice to ensure the building was safe. A building management and health and safety strategy has been implemented at the venue for the past 18 months. This included regular inspections by independent structural engineers with specific RAAC expertise. Throughout this time no issues were raised about the condition of RAAC in the building and there was no evidence of deterioration – and this remains the case.”

The council also noted, “However, the Council has continued to engage with its insurers and expert structural engineers and, based on advice received today from those experts, we believe it is prudent and responsible to carry out intrusive surveys to further reassure ourselves and the public on the safety of the Hall. This will require drilling into panels to confirm their interior construction and to determine if any further work is required to ensure continuing safety. Consequently, we will be bringing structural engineers – who are RAAC experts – back on site to do fresh tests on RAAC panels in the building. We expect this procedure could take at least 4 weeks, and we will look to re-open the Hall as soon as possible, dependent on any action which may or may not be required.”

The concert hall has canceled or postponed the upcoming performances until the middle of October,