71 schools ‘unsafe’ as litany of hidden defects discovered

Flaws similar to those found in Edinburgh last year

BUILDING defects have been found at more than 70 Scottish schools following the closure of an Edinburgh primary last year over safety fears.

Concerns were raised after 17 schools in the capital were shut following the collapse of a wall at Oxgangs Primary in January 2016.

And now an investigation has revealed that an additional 71 schools have been found to have similar faults.

The discovery has prompted concerns that there could be similar problems at other buildings constructed under private-public partnership (PPP) schemes including hospitals and care homes.

Problems first came to light when hundreds of bricks weighing nine tons were blown from a wall at Oxgangs Primary School during Storm Gertrude.

Following this ten primaries, five secondaries and two support needs schools – all built or refurbished as part of the PPP scheme – were closed due to fears over construction standards.

The City of Edinburgh Council closed schools after the Edinburgh Schools Partnership (ESP), which operates the buildings, was unable to provide safety assurances for the properties.

Now an investigation has revealed that similar defects have been found at schools across Scotland. Local authorities were asked whether repair work involving wall ties or ‘significant structural issues’ had been done at PPP schools, or others built under schemes such as non-profit distributing (NPD) or ‘design and build’ in the past year and a half.

Repairs have been carried out on most of the schools, but work is still to be completed on six.

An independent report into the closure of the 17 schools in Edinburgh concluded it was down to timing and luck that no deaths or injuries occurred at Oxgangs Primary. A report into the incident and wider issues in the capital identified problems with wall and header ties, which are used to hold exterior and interior walls together and attach them to the rest of the building.

In total, 88 schools have been found to have serious faults. However, 11 councils have revealed they have not done intrusive surveys which are needed to uncover problems.

Professor Alan Dunlop, a fellow of the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland, said: ‘The only way we found out about Oxgangs was because the wall collapsed. We need intrusive surveys to find out what on earth is going on. And this is focusing primarily on wall ties and header ties – are there other elements that are at fault?

‘We have to review and rethink how we build these buildings.’

Ian Honeyman from the Scottish Building Federation agreed that there were ‘big implications’ for the building industry.

Education Secretary John Swinney said ministers had been unaware of how many schools were affected following the Oxgangs incident, and claimed the responsibility for this lies with local authorities.

He added: ‘These schools were built under a brick and block system. We now use a steel framing system, which is much more individually configured to individual schools and the Edinburgh example – where 17 schools were taken forward as a batch purchase by the council – that no longer happens.’

Comment – Page 16

‘We need surveys to find what is going on’