School builds to be inspected
Safety checks to be made by engineers
Five Wishaw schools will see walls inspected in a bid to ease concerns over their safety.
Structural engineers from North Lanarkshire Council will be running the rule over Cambusnethan Primary, St Ignatius Primary and Wishaw Academy as well as Coltness and Clyde Valley High Schools.
In April concerns were raised after cracks appeared on the walls of the new £27 million Clyde Valley High.
Parents and pupils were worried after they spotted men in a hydraulic scissors lift carrying out drilling work to repair the school.
However, at that time a council spokesman said: “This is absolutely not a safety issue.
“A few internal and external cosmetic cracks have appeared. However, this is quite common in new buildings and is part of the normal drying and settling in process.
The work will be carried out following the publication of an independent inquiry into why nine tonnes of masonry fell at Oxgangs Primary School in Edinburgh in January last year during a storm.
Ten primaries, five secondaries and two additional support needs schools were shut because of concerns over the standard of construction in the city.
The letter has been sent to parents of the Wishaw schools concerned by the council’s head of education Lizanne McMurrich.
It states: “Structural engineers will be undertaking an initial walk round of schools to familiarise themselves and this will be followed by an inspection of the external walls in selected areas to determine cavity widths and wall tie embedment to provide assurance to the council.
“The inspection will require temporary removal of one or two bricks in various areas, photographing inside the cavity for record purposes and then reinstatement of the brick.
“There will also be an inspection internally in certain areas to view wall supports.
“We would emphasise these surveys are precautionary and we have no reason to suspect that there is anything untoward with the construction of our schools and I’m sure you’ll support the action being taken to ensure the continued safety of pupils and staff.”
The Wishaw Press was sent a copy of the letter sent to parents at Cambusnethan Primary by a concerned parent.
The parent, who asked not to be named, said: “I appreciate the council taking steps to ensure the building is safe, but with it already being so close to the school summer holidays, does it all actually have to take place while the children are around?
“It seems a bit idiotic to me that you would go to the hassle of fencing off areas, keeping disruption to a minimum and so on when the school is going to be closed to pupils soon.”