A student accommodation building near the city centre was today evacuated after a gas pipe was damaged. The building on Cambridge Street, which is currently being renovated and had no students living there at the time, had to be evacuated of workers.
A 50 metre cordon was set up around the Unite Students building, closing Cambridge Street and Chester Street this morning until around 11am when the building was made safe and the roads were reopened.
The large presence of emergency service vehicles, including fire service, ambulance and police is standard procedures in place when something happens with a gas line. Cadent, who manage the national gas emergency service, were also at the scene.
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A worker at the Unite Students building, who asked not to be named, said: “There’s a low pressure gas valve, and somebody cut it. So it’s not more exciting than that.
“It’s not a gas leak, genuinely, there’s an old metre for the restaurant and somebody just cut it. It’s very minor.
“This is just standard procedure, obviously you ring the gas board, fire unit, standard 50 metres cordon. It’s not a gas leak, just an old meter that was caught with a rip saw when it was being boxed in.
“There will be gas in it, but its low pressure and it’s already been capped off because it’s an isolated gas meter so it probably had a little standing gas in it that’s been released.”
One frustrated worker said: “Someone cut through the gas pipe, thought it was dead, it wasn't, and we were all evacuated. I’ve lost half a day's pay.”
Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, a spokesperson for Cadent said damage to a gas pipe was reported on a construction site and emergency services were called as a precaution.
Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service were contacted for comment.
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