The private consortium behind the 17 unsafe schools reportedly self-certified the construction, rather than a council inspector…
Last week it came to light that 17 schools across Edinburgh were structurally unsafe. Now, city chiefs have confirmed the buildings were not inspected by the council. Instead, the private finance consortium behind the construction of the schools “self-certified” them.
Andrew Burns, the leader of the city council, said the authority had “undertaken all its legal responsibilities” and maintained the schools met “all the relevant building standards”.
He added: “Edinburgh Schools Partnership (ESP) and its agents self-certified to the council, as they were entitled to do so, that the buildings complied with all the relevant building standards.”
Burns said the council will ensure whoever is responsible for these failings is held to account.
The closure of the schools has affected almost 7,700 pupils, but around 5,900 have been found temporary classroom accommodation. As a result of the disruption practical based exams have been cancelled, although the majority of the 2,000 pupils set to take exams across the five high schools involved have resumed lessons.
The council said it had “received early indications that suggest evidence of faults across all 17 affected schools to a varying extent” and as a result would withhold its £1.5m monthly payments to the consortium, the Edinburgh Schools Partnership (ESP).
A council spokesman said: “The structural designs were self-certified by ESP’s agent under the relevant building regulations in place at the time.
“Once construction was complete, their agent also self-certified to the council that the buildings complied with the relevant building standards. In order to do this, they would have to have been satisfied that each school was complete, in accordance with building standards, and that the building warrant conditions had been met.
“The council did carry out reasonable inspections to ensure that the buildings appeared to satisfy the terms of the building warrant. However, the regulatory system acknowledges that local authorities cannot reasonably monitor each and every aspect of all construction work being carried out.
“As such, reliance was placed upon suitably qualified individuals and the council would not have been responsible for the quality of work done or for supervising builders.”
Three Glasgow schools all built under the PPP contract have confirmed they passed safety tests.
