10.7.1 The building warrant process in Scotland is a pre-emptive system that seeks to ensure that buildings are designed and constructed to meet the standards set in the building regulations. It was an offence against the Building (Scotland) Act 1959, and still is against the current Building (Scotland) Act 2003, to start work without warrant, where one is required.
10.7.2 The process of submission of documents for warrant approval for the Phase 1 schools commenced with applications for three schools in June 2001, five months prior to the signing of the Project Agreement in November 2001. The warrant applications for the remaining Phase 1 schools, with the exception of Forthview and Castleview primary schools which came later, were submitted in July and August 2001, also in advance of the signing of the Project Agreement.
10.7.3 Many of the warrant applications were made in stages to facilitate early starts on site. The records, provided to the Inquiry by the Building Standards Department of the Council, indicate that all the Phase 1 schools had received approved warrants, approved stage warrants or approved amendment to warrants.
10.7.4 However, in the case of at least six of these schools, the information provided by the Council would indicate that, in contravention of the requirement, work commenced on site prior to a warrant being approved. The periods by which construction preceded the issue of the required approved warrants varied from one to two months, up to more than a year.
10.7.5 The Building Standards system that applied at the time of these submissions was set down in the Building (Scotland) Act 1959. In relation to commencing work prior to issue of a warrant it states:
"No person shall (a) in any place conduct any operations for the construction or demolition of a building of a class to which the building standards regulations apply, or (b) change the use of any building unless there has been obtained from the buildings authority a warrant for the construction, demolition or change of use, as the case may be, and any person who contravenes this subsection shall be guilty of an offence against this Act."
10.7.6 The records also show that the initial warrant application for Gracemount High School, submitted for approval on 17th August 2001, was only approved on 20th May 2003, just several months before the school opened. An amendment to the warrant for the same school, applied for on 12th October 2001, was only approved on 31st March 2008, some five years after the school opened.
10.7.7 The information provided by Edinburgh Buildings Standards Department further show that the mandatory submission to Building Standards of notifications of commencement to start work, prior to the actual commencement of work, was only complied with by AMJV or its agents in the case of three of the 17 PPP1 projects. There is, however, a record of a sequence of visits during construction by Building Control officers to all the sites, which will be commented on later in this section.
10.7.8 In relation to the issue of the legally required Completion Certificates, the records provided to the Inquiry would suggest that a number of the school buildings were occupied for periods in advance of the issue of a Completion Certificate by Building Standards. The periods, in most cases, ranged from a few months to over two years.
10.7.9 This would represent a breach of the requirements of the relevant Act, unless as provided for in the Act, Temporary Occupation Certificates were issued in relation to these schools.
10.7.10 Sub-section 5 of Clause 9 of the Building (Scotland) Act 1959 states:
"……no person shall occupy or use a building (being a building which has been constructed by virtue of a warrant granted under this Act) before a certificate of completion in respect of the building has been issued by the buildings authority, and any person who wilfully contravenes this subsection shall be guilty of an offence against this Act ……."
10.7.11 Two of the Phase 1 schools, Craigmount High School and Royal High School, have never received Completion Certificates issued by Building Standards. In the case of a third school, Gracemount High school, the Completion Certificate was only applied for on 18th May 2010 and issued by Building Standards on 7th June 2010, some seven years after the school was occupied.
10.7.12 The Inquiry was advised that prior to the occupation of these latter three schools, Temporary Occupation Certificates were applied for by AMJV and granted by Building Standards.
10.7.13 The issue of Temporary Occupation Certificates indicated that Building Standards had been generally content with what they had seen on their final inspection of a school but required the submission of amended drawings so they could examine the detail of what had been changed in the design from the original approved drawings. The new drawings would then require approval to allow for the issue of an amendment to the warrant and a further visit to the site by Building Standards to check compliance of the amended areas of the building, prior to issue of a completion certificate.
10.7.14 The amendments to an original design can often be in relation to minor aspects of a project, but until the extent of changes is defined and shown by the re-submission of amended drawings, the necessary assurance that they are compliant with the regulations cannot be given.
10.7.15 A Temporary Occupation Certificate can be issued following an assessment of risk by the building inspector based on what can be seen on site and from any available documentation as to the level of completeness of the construction and safety systems to allow the building to be occupied. They do not give the same level of assurance as is provided by a Completion Certificate.
10.7.16 The Temporary Occupation Certificates that were issued for the three schools mentioned above, expired after the maximum allowed statutory period of three years, during which period there was no submission of the required drawings showing the amendments to the design, effectively leaving the continuing occupation of all three schools to be a contravention of the regulations administered by the Council itself.
10.7.17 Following the introduction of the new Building Standards system in 2005, there was a limited transitional period provided for, during which a building owner could retrospectively apply for a full Completion Certificate after the expiry date of a Temporary Occupation Certificate issued under the previous system.
10.7.18 Under this interim arrangement such an application was made and approved in respect of Gracemount High School. However, this was only done in June 2010 meaning that, for a period of approximately four years after the expiry of the Temporary Occupation Certificate, Gracemount High School did not have a legitimate Completion Certificate.
10.7.19 No such application was made in respect of the two other High Schools named above which remain without Completion Certificates. The Inquiry was advised by Edinburgh Building Standards that the time limit allowed in the transitional period to apply retrospectively for Completion Certificates has now expired. As a result of this Inquiry, Edinburgh Building Standards is seeking to regularise the situation in relation to these schools.