In a precautionary measure, the EU said Wednesday it is moving this week’s leaders’ summit out of its new headquarters into a neighbouring building following chemical fumes which erupted from the kitchen sickened several people.

As a result, staff were compelled to leave the building on Wednesday, in the second incident of its kind in a week – an incident officials said was caused by chemical reaction between cleaning products.

“In the light of today’s incident in the Europa building, it has been decided, as a precautionary measure, that the European Council of 19 -20 October will take place in the Justus Lipsius building”, the European Council said in a statement.

The EU said earlier that “despite checks and precautions , a further technical incident occurred today in one of the Europa building kitchens” following last Friday’s eruption of fumes, adding that, “The technical issue affecting the ventilation in the kitchens of the Europa building, producing noxious fumes in the kitchens, has led to a twenty people taken ill and nine people were hospitalized.

EU leaders are scheduled to discuss various issues especially the ones bordering on Brexit at the summit on Thursday and Friday, with Prime Minister Theresa May set to appease fellow leaders to break the negotiation stalemate and speed up negotiations on Britain’s exit from the bloc.

The new Europa building which replaces the Justus Lipsius building where summits of European Union leaders had been held since 1995, has been dubbed the “Space Egg ” because of its futuristic appearance featuring a huge glass oval inside a cage of thousands of window frames sourced from around the 28-nation bloc.

Adegbite Adedotun