Hiram Smith Hall, a UW-Madison building on the west side of campus, was evacuated Tuesday after the Physical Plant received a call about a broken water main along the west side of the building.
According to UW-Madison Architectural Engineer Pete Heaslett, contractors working on the excavation of the future site of the Microbial Science building noticed movement in the earth-retention system around the site Monday and again Tuesday morning. After noticing water, the contractors contacted UW-Madison officials and recommended Hiram Smith Hall be closed.
\[Water] saturated the soil on [the west] side of the building,"" Heaslett said. ""So as a safety precaution, they asked and we obliged to evacuate the building to make sure there wasn't something catastrophic that happened.""
According to Gary Brown, UW-Madison director of Planning and Landscape Architecture, the water to Hiram Smith has been turned off and the east wall of the excavation is being shored up with backfilled soil.
In addition, parking lot #38 has also been closed, Brown said.
Hiram Smith will remain closed until the water main is repaired and the soil is stabilized, according to Brown. However, Heaslett said the building will likely only remain closed for a short time.
""I would really, highly doubt it's permanent,"" he said.
Heaslett said the College of Agriculture & Life Sciences dean's office was attempting to make alternate plans for the classes normally located in Hiram Smith since discovering the mishap.
