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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
National
Elliot Williams

ASIO building has lost yet another window

The Ben Chifley Building, ASIO's headquarters, has lost another window, the latest in a long line of missing glass panels on its exterior facade.

Another pane of glass has fallen from the facade of the Ben Chifley Building, ASIO's headquarters. Picture: Karleen Minney

The Department of Finance, which is responsible for the building, advised the glass panel was damaged on November 11 by "intemperate weather events".

"The building has a double facade. As the panel is on the outer facade, the damage has not impacted the occupants of the building," a spokeswoman said.

She said the department's property service provider was working to replace the panel.

Another glass panel was previously damaged in February during a storm and took more than a month to be replaced.

The Ben Chifley Building has had issues with broken panels of glass reportedly worth $3500 each. Picture: Jamila Toderas

While the building was under construction, at least 19 glass panels shattered and fell, some up to four metres, to the ground below.

Shortly after it opened, in 2014, one panel shattered but remained in place and had to be manually removed. Then, a year later another panel broke.

The spokeswoman would not comment on whether any measures had been put in place or would be implemented to address the issue.

The $700 million Ben Chifley Building houses up to 1800 staff and each glass panel is reportedly worth up to $3500 and cost up to $70,000 to replace.

The breakages had previously been linked to nickel sulphide present in the glass.

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