Remit Item 8:
"Provide advice and recommendations on any specific or wider lessons which can be learned from these unfortunate events for Edinburgh Council and any other bodies."
• This Section will set out a series of recommendations for consideration by the City of Edinburgh Council. The Inquiry is of the view that many of these recommendations have a wider relevance to those engaged in the procurement, design and construction of public buildings. It is not intended to repeat here the evidence provided earlier in this Report from which these recommendations have been derived.
• Many of the recommendations relate to factors which, when combined over time, have helped to create circumstances in the procurement of public buildings, such that the collapse of the wall at Oxgangs appears to be a symptom of a broader problem.
• The collapse of the wall at Oxgangs School and the defects found in the construction of the 17 Edinburgh projects were fundamentally the result of a combination of poor quality of workmanship, inadequate supervision and ineffective quality assurance within the construction industry. The level of independent scrutiny applied to the construction on behalf of the Council was also insufficient to identify and seek rectification of the defective construction that subsequently caused the failure of the wall.
• Whilst it is not suggested that this lack of quality is representative of the construction industry as a whole, the recurring nature of similar defects in relation to the construction of masonry walls undertaken by a range of contractors, subcontractors and bricklaying squads in the Edinburgh schools and other schools across Scotland, can only indicate that the risk of occurrence of defects of this nature is high. Accordingly, clients should ensure that they incorporate into their procurement arrangements the provision of appropriately qualified and resourced independent scrutiny that provides the necessary level of assurance as to the quality of the buildings being procured.
• By independent scrutiny, the Inquiry is referring to inspection by individuals or organisations appointed or directly employed by the client who are independent of the contractor undertaking the project.