10.9.1 A fundamental aspect of the PPP Project Agreement is the signing of the 'Availability Certificates' by the Independent Certifier. In the case of the Phase 1 schools this role was undertaken by Mouchel and in the case of the Phase 2 schools, by Arup (Scotland).
10.9.2 The signing of the Availability Certificates represents a statement by the Independent Certifier that the project has been completed in accordance with the requirements of the Project Agreement and is ready for occupation. On the completion of this form by the Independent Certifier for each school, the format of which is included in the Project Agreement, ESP were entitled to commence charging the Council for the provision of that school's facilities and the related services. Up until this form was signed, ESP were not entitled to any payment from the Council.
10.9.3 The Council was unable to locate or provide the Inquiry with copies of completed Availability Certificates for any of the Phase 1 schools. In relation to the Phase 2 schools the Council was only able to produce a copy of a completed Availability Certificate Type 2 (Project Agreement) issued in relation to Firrhill High School.
10.9.4 Given the fundamental importance of the issue of these certificates, both for declaring the buildings available for use and as the mechanism to entitle the commencement of the flow of payments to ESP by the Council, the Inquiry consider it reasonable to assume that all 17 were issued. However, considering their importance, the Inquiry finds it disappointing that the records and archives system of the Council was unable to produce them.
10.9.5 Following similar requests by the Inquiry to ESP and Galliford Try, the only further certificate made available to the Inquiry was a copy of a completed Availability Certificate Type 1 (Design and Build Contract) for Oxgangs, also a Phase 2 school, as provided by Galliford Try from their records.
10.9.6 The Project Agreement required a copy of both type 1 (D&B Contract) and type 2 (Main Project Agreement) Availability Certificates to be completed for each school. The five clauses that were the central element of the two forms were virtually identical. Clauses (2) and (3) of these five in both cases contained the following statements:
"(2) all Required Consents for Oxgangs primary School have been obtained
(3) the certificates being (i) building control certificates and (ii) the relevant certificates referred to in Part 8 of the Schedule to the D&B Contract and listed in the Appendix hereto, have been obtained and approved."
10.9.7 From this, it is clear that a Completion Certificate, which is perhaps the most significant of the Building Control certificates, or at least a Temporary Occupation Certificate, would have already have had to be issued to allow the Independent Certifier to complete the Availability Certificate for each school.
10.9.8 The Inquiry has been unable to verify if the signed Availability Certificates were qualified to reflect the issue of only Temporary Occupation Certificates, or if such certificates were available at the time of the actual occupation of each school. There is no indication on the two Availability Certificates, for Oxgangs Primary School and Firrhill High School, that were provided to the Inquiry, that they had been issued only on the basis of a Temporary Occupation Certificate although that is clearly the case from the information provided by Edinburgh Building Standards.
10.9.9 Copies of the two completed availability certificates that were made available to the Inquiry are included in Appendix 3 to this Report.
10.9.10 The following table sets out an analysis of the information provided to the Inquiry in relation to the relative timing of key dates in relation to the application, approval and certification processes relating to compliance of the PPP1 schools with Building Standards requirements. In the absence of copies of all but two of the Availability Certificates, the dates of the issue of the remaining certificates were provided to the Inquiry from the available records.
10.9.11 The table also records the information provided by the Building Standards Department in relation to the number of inspection visits to sites that were undertaken and the number of these, which from an analysis of the records of the visits, appeared to be focused on drainage issues.
ANALYSIS OF BUILDINGS STANDARDS (BS) CERTIFICATION OF PPP1 SCHOOLS
| Name of School | Date of first approved warrant | Start Date of Construction or BS Initial Site Date | Number of Site Visits made by BS | Number of site visits to do with drainage | Date of last Temp. Occupancy Cert | Date of issue of Availability Certificate | Date of Building Standards Certificate of Completion |
| Pirniehall and St David's Primary Schools | 30/11/01 | 21/12/01 | 34 | 27 | 20/08/02 | 12/08/02 | 05/03/03 |
| Craigroyston Primary | 08/01/02 | 22/02/02 | 27 | 25 | 07/11/02 | 11/10/02 | 14/11/03 |
| Broomhouse and St. Joseph's Primary Schools | 27/02/02 | 28/01/02 | 37 | 35 | 19/11/02 | 18/10/02 | 22/07/03 |
| Rowanfield | 20/02/02 | 18/02/02 | 18 | 16 | 31/10/02 | 18/10/02 | 14/11/02 |
| Craigour Park Primary School | 20/06/02 | 19/03/02 | 28 | 22 | 04/12/02 | 13/12/02 | 30/07/03 |
| Castleview Primary School | 02/09/02 | 24/09/02 | 35 | 27 | 06/05/03 | 02/05/03 | 11/09/03 |
| Gracemount High School | 20/05/03 | 22/04/02 | 38 | 37 | 27/06/03 | 04/07/03 | 07/06/10 |
| Forthview Primary School | 18/10/02 | 26/11/02 | 28 | 21 | 27/06/03 | 11/07/03 | 04/11/03 |
| Drummond Community High School | 12/04/02 | 19/03/02 | 18 | Not Known | 22/03/0211 | 11/07/03 | 11/10/05 |
| Craigmount High School | 02/07/02 | 11/04/02 | 49 | 37 | 25/07/03 | 25/07/03 | No BS Completion Certificate was ever issued |
| Goodtrees Neighbourhood Centre | 26/03/03 | 05/03/03 | 12 | 8 | 25/07/03 | 25/07/03 | 31/10/03 |
| The Royal High School | 13/03/02 | 17/01/02 | 48 | 18 | 21/10/0211 | 01/08/03 | No BS Completion Certificate was ever issued |
| Howdenhall Children's Unit | 12/07/02 | 19/07/02 | 31 | 24 | 17/10/03 | 13/10/03 | 29/10/03 |
| Oxgangs Primary School | 27/03/03 | 09/06/04 | 21 | 20 | 08/02/05 | 01/03/05 | 21/07/06 |
| Firrhill High School | 19/06/02 | 28/08/02 | 312 | Not Known | 02/09/0211 | 15/03/05 | 16/06/05 |
| St Peter's Primary | 25/05/04 | 09/06/04 | 17 | 11 | 30/04/05 | 08/04/05 | 04/11/05 |
| Braidburn School | 30/01/04 | 16/07/04 | 14 | 11 | 08/03/05 | 10/06/05 | 21/07/06 |
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11 Early Temporary Occupation Certificates were issued to allow completed phases of the building to be occupied whilst work elsewhere on the same site continued.
12 There is an overlap of Building Control records regarding Firrhill HS and Braidburn School as both schools are located within the same site but approved under different warrants and dual visits were undertaken.