5.6.1 In the period leading up to the commencement on 24th March 2016 of the Easter holidays, proposals were developed by ESP in conjunction with officers from the City of Edinburgh Council and their advisers for the implementation of a strategy to facilitate the early reopening of the schools.
5.6.2 The strategy relied upon a combination of:
• immediate remediation over the holiday period by the installation of remedial wall ties to all areas of wall identified as high risk including at entrances and means of escape;
• the erection of protective fencing to create exclusion zones around all other areas assessed by the surveys as carrying risk, these areas to be remediated in the summer holiday period; and
• the implementation of a strict management protocol for ensuring the safety of children should there be any further periods of high wind.
5.6.3 The last part of the strategy was based on a proposal that either the schools would be closed or pupils in schools would be restricted from going outside the school buildings in periods of high winds, based on close and regular monitoring of meteorological forecasts and severe weather warnings.
5.6.4 It was proposed that once satisfactory completion of this work had been achieved over the Easter holiday period, the currently closed PPP1 schools i.e. Oxgangs, St. Peter's, Firrhill and Braidburn, could reopen on 11th April 2016, whilst any remedial work that remained outstanding on these schools at this date could be completed during the summer months of the school holiday period. This proposal was supported as being an acceptable approach from a structural safety perspective by the structural engineers representing both ESP and the City of Edinburgh Council.
5.6.5 In the case of the 13 Phase 1 PPP1 projects, the contractual period for which the original contractors remained liable for latent construction defects had expired prior to the collapse of the Oxgangs School wall. Following completion of the surveys and the preparation of the design and specification for the required remedial work, the remedial construction work would therefore be undertaken by sub-contractors appointed under the management of Amey Communities.
5.6.6 However, the Phase 2 schools had been completed in 2005 under a contract which had a limitation period of 12 years during which the responsibility for making good latent construction defects remains with the original contractor. This period had not yet expired.
5.6.7 ESP had therefore requested that Galliford Try comply with their contractual responsibilities for undertaking all remedial works required to the four Phase 2 schools. This large national construction company had acquired Miller Construction in 2014 and thereby assumed their contractual liabilities.
5.6.8 Following further consideration by the City of Edinburgh Council, the strategy to facilitate the reopening of the schools on 11th April 2016 was accepted as the best way to proceed. At a meeting of the Corporate Incident Management Team on the 21st March 2016 the following points were discussed:
• The intention was that all closed schools would re-open after the Easter break
• All remedial measures to the schools were required to be fully complete by the start of August 2016
• Confirmation should be issued to school staff and parents of pupils that the schools were safe and that pupils were being taught in a secure environment
• The necessary mitigation measures in the event of severe weather would be required to be fully operational in all schools prior to the return to schools on 11th April 2016.
5.6.9 In relation to the introduction of the severe weather protocol, it had been agreed at the CIMT on the previous day, Sunday 20th March, that Meteorological Office weather warnings would be monitored by the Corporate Resilience Unit of the City of Edinburgh Council four times a day until 25th March, the start of the Easter break, and any warnings would be issued immediately to all concerned.
5.6.10 It was also reported at the meeting that Galliford Try would begin a programme of remedial works for the Phase 2 projects on the day following the meeting, 22nd March 2016, starting at Oxgangs School which had already been closed.
5.6.11 Galliford Try had appointed the Edinburgh-based firm of structural engineers, Goodson Associates Ltd., to advise them directly on the extent and nature of remediation works that would be required on the Phase 2 schools. This was not a shared appointment so in relation to this work Goodson Associates only reported to Galliford Try.
5.6.12 Goodson Associates had been provided with a copy of the 29th February WRD Report on the gable wall collapse at Oxgangs School and were addressing the recommendations therein as their initial brief together with any specific instructions from Galliford Try. Galliford Try did not at this time seek clearance from ESP, the City of Edinburgh Council or their respective structural engineering advisers on the nature or extent of the work they planned to carry out. In order to fulfil their contractual obligations, they intended simply to repair the defective work and report to ESP when the work was complete.
5.6.13 At the commencement of the Easter school holiday period on Friday 25th March, Amey commenced work on the wall tie remediation to the areas around entrances and exits at the 13 Phase 1 projects. Work also started on the erection of Heras fencing to create exclusion zones around those areas of wall which were not designated high risk areas and for which the remedial works would be undertaken during the period when the schools had closed for the summer holidays.