Legal action urged over flats collapse
AN INQUIRY into a catastrophic tenement collapse that could have led to “serious loss of life” recommended legal action against the neighbouring developer building homes.
On August 27, 2007, emergency crews were called to 275, Wilton Street, near Queen Margaret Drive, after huge cracks appeared in the blonde sandstone building.
Firefighters evacuated five people and, minutes later, the building collapsed. Construction work had got under way to build a seven-storey block of 16 flats next to the tenement block.
A report by the Health and Safety Executive, which has never been made public, states that Standard Homes Ltd, had little experience of projects of this scale.
Work had commenced without a health and safety plan being in place and with little evidence that risk assessments had been carried out.
The HSE report describes how “deep excavation work” had been carried out by the contractors close to the gable end the day before the tenement collapsed.
It adds that “no means of temporary support” were provided for the excavation “despite its depth requiring such measures”.
It goes on to say that this omission “ultimately led to the undermining of the base of the gable wall and its eventual collapse”.
The HSE said the fact no one was injured was only due to residents who noticed serious cracking in the tenement wall just hours before the collapse.
The report states that Standard Homes had been warned about the dangers associated with deep excavation works.
It concludes: “Legal proceedings are recommended against the Principal Contractor for their failings to both properly plan and manage the works and for failing to carry out the works in a safe manner, resulting in seriously endangering both members of the public.”
The development was halted and Standard Homes, which was headed up by Nahid Ali and Tanveer Ali, is said to have been dissolved.