A community health centre in Canberra city will be shut for at least three days after asbestos was found during routine maintenance.
The City Health Centre building at the corner of Alinga Street and Moore Street in the city centre, pictured in 2016. Picture by Melissa Adams
All patient appointments scheduled at the City Health Centre, the multistorey concrete building at the corner of Moore Street and Alinga Street, have been or will be rescheduled, a notice on the Canberra Health Services website said.
A government spokesperson said asbestos-containing materials were found in a plant room, with positive test results returned on Monday, and the site would be closed until at least Friday while investigations continue.
“The health and safety of occupants remains the government’s immediate priority. All necessary steps are being taken to ensure the environment is safe,” the spokesperson said.
“Decisions regarding reopening of the building and provision of any further information to staff, consumers and visitors will continue to be guided by expert advice.”
Specialist consultants had recommended the building be closed on Tuesday, and it would remain shut on Wednesday and Thursday, the government said.
The building is also home to the MSI Canberra Abortion and Contraception Clinic, BreastScreen ACT, the canTEST pill testing service and the Canberra Innovation Network (CBRIN). The ACT Civil and Administrative Tribunal was also formerly located in the building.
Construction of the building, originally for the ACT Health Service, began in the 1970s before self-government, when asbestos was still widely used in building products in Australia.
Australia started introducing asbestos bans in the mid-1980s and totally banned the manufacture, use, reuse, import and sale of all asbestos forms in 2003.
Asbestos is a risk to health if the fibres become airborne and are inhaled, which can lead to mesothelioma, a normally rare cancer, a fact sheet issued in 2021 by the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation said.
“People who were exposed to asbestos in the workplace – such as in its mining, manufacture or installation – are at greater risk than people who occupy buildings constructed with asbestos products,” the CSIRO fact sheet said.
The government identified the Moore Street building for sale as part of a Commonwealth asset recycling program more than a decade ago.
The 2016-17 ACT budget funded a business case for relocating the City Health Centre after its planned sale in the asset recycling scheme, which offered states and territories bonuses from the Commonwealth if they sold ageing infrastructure and reinvested the proceeds in agreed projects.
But the ACT government has retained the building and provided $3.1 million in funding between 2022 and 2024 to renovate office space and expand the Canberra Innovation Network’s footprint.
“Future expansion of CBRIN at 1 Moore Street is supported subject to future demand for floor space, viable relocation options for existing tenants and provision of refurbishment funding through normal budget processes,” Chief Minister Andrew Barr told the Legislative Assembly’s standing committee on economics, industry and recreation in February 2025.
The ACT government shut or partially closed several public schools after asbestos-contaminated play sand was identified in late 2025.
“The laws in the ACT around asbestos removal are some of the most rigorous in the country. While we understand the risk of exposure to the traces of asbestos in these products was identified as low, under ACT work health and safety laws, any products containing asbestos must be assessed and removed by licensed asbestos assessors,” Education Minister Yvette Berry told the Legislative Assembly in December 2025.
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