2.1.1 This Report presents the findings of an independent Inquiry commissioned by the Chief Executive of the City of Edinburgh Council. The holding of the Inquiry followed the collapse of part of an external wall at Oxgangs Primary School Edinburgh on 29th January 2016 in the hours prior to the normal school opening time, and the discovery in the subsequent investigative surveys of defects in the construction of the external walls of 16 other schools in Edinburgh, resulting in the enforced closure of all 17 schools (in addition to a Secure Unit and a Community Centre) for a period of several months. All these buildings had been built as part of the same Public Private Partnership contract ("PPP1") with Edinburgh Schools Partnership Limited ("ESP").
2.1.2 The Report has been compiled by the appointed Chair of the Inquiry, Professor John Cole CBE, an architect and retired senior civil servant. In undertaking the Inquiry, and in the production of the Report, the Chair was supported by Mr. Stewart Macartney, a structural engineer and a director in a multi-disciplinary engineering consultancy and by Mr Chris Phillips, a lawyer and a partner in an established legal practice. This panel of three members was provided with administrative support and office accommodation by the City of Edinburgh Council.