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Manchester’s Factory venue says it has rectified recurring ceiling collapse issue
By Andy Malt | Published on Tuesday 14 February 2017
Manchester’s Factory venue – housed in the former offices of Factory Records – has assured clubbers that it has rectified a problem which led to its second ceiling collapse in two years. Attendees of a student night at the venue over the weekend were left holding up the ceiling after it collapsed in on them.
According to reports, at about 1.30am on Sunday morning, a large section of the plasterboard ceiling fell down. Video and photographs from the event show people at the event subsequently holding it up.
One person in the room, Bethan Holmes, told student newspaper The Tab: “I was on the edge of the dancefloor and then bits of plaster landed on me. It went in my left eye, I didn’t know what had happened. Then I turned round to see that most of the roof had collapsed in the middle of the room and everyone was holding it up. The music stopped and I heard people shouting and glass breaking”.
Another, Tom Foster, added: “It took about two minutes for the DJ to stop, then bouncers rushed in, but there was no plan. I was surprised there was no announcement, I would have thought there would be in a situation like [that], to help people [stay] calm when half the room is holding up the ceiling of a very old building”.
This is not the first time this has happened at the venue, which opened in 2010. Seven people were injured in a similar incident in 2014.
A spokesperson for Factory told the Manchester Evening News: “A section of plasterboard came loose from the first floor. The same section that came loose on this exact weekend two years ago. At this stage we are uncertain how or why – no one was hurt and the club was evacuated purely as a precaution – there is no structural issue so we now need to investigate with contractors how this re-occurred. This issue relates to the first floor only”.
The club then announced yesterday that “after a thorough investigation we have got to the bottom of what caused the ceiling to drop on Saturday and we can confirm the problem has been rectified”.
It added: “We would also like to thank all the people who held the ceiling up whilst still partying and dancing underneath it”.
