5.1  COLLAPSE OF THE GABLE WALL AT OXGANGS PRIMARY SCHOOL

5.1.1  On the evening of the 28th January 2016 and on the following day Scotland and the North of England suffered significant disruption as a result of Storm Gertrude sweeping across the country. The storm resulted in schools being shut, homes losing power, and trains, flights and ferries being cancelled across Scotland.

5.1.2  On the morning of Friday 29th January 2016, in the hours prior to the normal opening time of Oxgangs Primary School, a substantial section of the upper level of the external brickwork face of a non-structural cavity wall to a two-storey gable of the school, weighing approximately 9 tons, collapsed onto the pathway below.

5.1.3  Fortunately, due to the early hour, no one was in the vicinity of the wall that collapsed and no injuries resulted. However, the Inquiry was advised that the area onto which the significant amount of masonry had fallen was one where shortly later children could easily have been standing waiting to go in to school or walking past. In slightly different circumstances this event could have resulted in considerable injury or even fatalities to staff and children.

5.1.4  The following photographs (Images 2, 3 and 4) are of the gable wall at Oxgangs School taken after the collapse.

5.1.5  A Capitals Programme Senior Manager from the Council, who will be referred to for the purposes of this Report as the Council's Project Manager ("CPM"), took charge of the incident and was subsequently appointed to act throughout the following months as the main interface on all technical matters between ESP and the Council's senior management team.

5.1.6  Following an early morning visit by the CPM and other staff of the Council, it was decided that the school should be closed with immediate effect until more information was available. The priority of the Council officers was to have those remaining areas of the damaged wall that were clearly unstable, and could easily fall, removed and to arrange for immediate temporary repairs to render the wall structurally safe.

5.1.7  That morning the CPM requested Will Rudd Davidson ("WRD"), a firm of Edinburgh-based structural engineers, to provide them with advice on both any further risks to safety that might be associated with the collapse and the nature of remedial work required to render the building safe for use.

5.1.8  The CPM also instructed WRD to undertake a precautionary visual inspection of the external walls of the three other Phase 2 PPP1 schools built at the same time and by the same contractor, Miller Construction, as Oxgangs School. These were St. Peter's RC Primary School, Firrhill High School and Braidburn School. This visual inspection did not raise any concerns.

5.1.9  Temporary works were undertaken over the next three days by Amey FM and their appointed sub-contractor to render the gable wall at Oxgangs school safe from risk of any further collapse. These works involved removing all remaining parts of the damaged wall that were at risk of falling, installing a bracing structure to the internal face of the inner leaf of the cavity wall and applying a temporary external cladding to protect it from the elements. Additionally, the area around the wall was fenced off to prevent access to it by pupils.

5.1.10  On Sunday 31st January ESP, in recognition of the relative responsibilities of the parties as established under the PPP1 contract, formally took over from the City of Edinburgh Council the appointment of WRD as structural engineering consultants to advise them directly in relation to the collapse. The school remained closed on Monday 1st February, thereby causing pupils to miss a total of two days of school attendance.

5.1.11  Prior to re-opening on Tuesday 2nd February, the City of Edinburgh Council required a letter from the structural engineers, WRD, confirming that it was safe to occupy the school provided the area around the wall remained securely cordoned off. The letter also advised ESP that further intrusive investigations would be necessary to understand the cause of the failure of the wall.

5.1.12  On 3rd February 2016, prior to the undertaking of the comprehensive investigations of the Oxgangs wall collapse, as a precautionary measure ESP commissioned WRD to visually inspect the external walls of all 17 PPP1 projects and provide a Report by the week ending 12th February.

5.1.13  These reports, based on visual inspections by WRD, indicated no apparent problems and advised that the schools remained safe to occupy.