Alphington businesses suddenly locked out after toxic fibres found

Angry Alphington business owners have been locked out of their office and factory spaces because asbestos fibres were found at the council-controlled site.

More than a dozen inner-city businesses have been booted from their offices space after toxic asbestos fibres were found at the Melbourne Innovation Centre.

Alphington-based MIC emailed the 13 businesses on December 1, giving them less than 24 hours to collect supplies and inventory before they would be locked out of two buildings while Darebin Council cleaned and tested the site.

However, many were unable to act in the limit time, with tens of thousands of dollars of equipment and product now locked up at the council-controlled site.

Evolution Automotive owner Craig Bishop said he was forced scramble to recover vital equipment to keep his business afloat.

“The stress level of doing all that was pretty high because we only had three hours or so, rummaging through to get things out to keep the business going … and at the same time, notify our clientele,” he said.

Mr Bishop said the forced closure had cost him several clients, and it took several days before he could work again to make an income.

La Sirene Brewing co-founder Eva Nikias was also forced into a “devastating” closure.

“There's obviously no job security or certainty regarding production and the bar for our staff and for us as owners,” she said.

“There wasn't a lead up, we had no idea the brewery was going to be closed the next day.”

Two weeks after the closure, Ms Nikias said business owners had received no information on the timeline for cleaning, when their equipment would be returned, or even if they would receive their equipment back at all.

“There‘s no clarity on that yet, there’s no timeline for when cleaning will be finished … it’s a crazy disruption.”

Ms Nikias said her team was going through immense “loss and grief”.

“It’s complete and utter uncertainty,” she said.

Mr Bishop feared that the impact of the closures, so close to Christmas, could have a serious impact on the livelihoods and mental health of some business owners.

“Some people have taken it very hard, there’s been a lot of emotion, a lot of tears, a lot of people that are just lost,” he said.

“The amount of stress on people this time of year, I just hope that nobody gets to the point where it gets too much, and you know the scenario from then on … A few people would have been, you know, you’d almost say they were pretty close to that point.”

According to a statement from Darebin Council, an environmental assessment conducted in November found asbestos containing dust in the buildings, which had shed from fibres in the roof and walls.

It said the cleaning and remediation process was “nearly complete”.

The council’s chief executive, Peter Smith, said the health and safety of tenants, visitors, contactors and staff located at MIC was the council’s number one priority.

“We are working closely with the MIC and its tenants, and we have temporarily closed the two buildings to allow for further environmental testing and remediation work to be undertaken,” Mr Smith said.

“We understand this is inconvenient for impacted tenants, particularly at this time of the year. Council, together with the MIC are looking at options to minimise the impact and assist those businesses.”

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