‘Shocking’ wall defects repaired at 30 schools

THIRTY schools across Scotland have required work in the past five years to repair defects similar to those found at a primary where a wall collapsed in January storms.

An investigation in the wake of the incident at Oxgangs Primary in Edinburgh and subsequent closure of 17 schools in the capital reveals similar problems have been found at 13 other schools countrywide.

The investigation by BBC Scotland, titled How Safe is My School?, is to be broadcast next week.

Researchers found that the repair work was carried out in South Lanarkshire, Stirlingshire, East Renfrewshire and Glasgow over the past five years.

Pictures obtained by the programme of St Ninian’s High School, in East Renfrewshire, reveal the inside of cavity walls where some metal ties are dangling in mid-air instead of holding the outside wall to the inside wall.

Other wall ties were not properly embedded because the joints in the walls had not been aligned, and the council then had to undertake repairs to the school, costing more than £870,000.

Professor Alan Dunlop, Master Architect and lecturer with Robert Gordon University, told the BBC: ‘In my view, this is malpractice.

‘The way some of these things are done is very worrying indeed. I’m also concerned and shocked that this is something that happened in 2010 and we do not know anything at all about it.’

It is two years since Keane Wallis-Bennett, 12, died when a wall in the changing rooms of Edinburgh’s Liberton High School fell on her. Her death drew attention to the danger that structural problems in school buildings can pose.

The issues with wall and header ties – used to hold exterior and interior walls together and attach them to the rest of the building – came to light when part of a wall at Oxgangs Primary collapsed.

At the height of the ensuing chaos in Edinburgh’s schools, 81 buses were transporting thousands of children across the city each morning to other schools.

Inspections discovered that wall ties were missing or corroded at the schools, which had all been built or refurbished as part of the same public private partnership (PPP) scheme.

With repairs completed, a City of Edinburgh Council investigation into what happened is due to begin later this week and will examine if the failures are a national construction matter.

Officials believe that the issue could affect any public building which was built in the same way as the 17 schools which were closed in April, with cavity walls around a steel frame.

Council chief executive Andrew Kerr said: ‘It may be that this is a national issue that has to be tackled in terms of how you supervise these works going on, how they’re undertaken.

‘We have just tried to make sure that Edinburgh schools are safe right now.’

All the defects reported at the 30 schools identified have since been repaired.

Edinburgh Council has also assured parents that the buildings in the city that were affected by closures are now safe for pupils to return for the new school year.

BBC Scotland Investigates: How Safe is My School?, BBC1 Scotland, 7pm, Monday August 22.

‘Very worrying indeed’