Image: Holmes Miller
Graham Construction is investigating a leak at a £28m school it is building in Scotland after ceiling tiles became saturated and it had to pull a ceiling down completely.
Social media posts suggested the ceiling at the North-West Community Campus in Dumfries had collapsed. However Graham Construction said it had taken the decision to remove the ceiling completely in order to undertake remediation works to fix the leak after it had been identified.
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Work on the North-West Community Campus, whose construction has been commissioned by the Hub South West Scotland public-private partnership, was due to finish in June before it became operational in August and Graham insisted that the school would be completed according to the programme.
The news comes at a time when there is increased scrutiny of the construction of Scottish public buildigs after DG One, a £17m leisure complex built by Kier, had to be closed because of a series of defects.
In 2016, 17 schools in Edinburgh were closed over safety fears after construction defects were found, and further investigation found defects at a further 71 schools across Scotland.
In a statement, Graham Construction said: “During standard testing toward the completion stage of construction a leak occurred within the staffroom area. This testing was carried out in the evening and in a controlled environment supervised by experienced members of Graham’s staff. The matter was identified and isolated and acted upon immediately. The weight of water over a period of time saturated ceiling tiles and caused sagging and superficial damage. Graham took the decision to remove the ceiling completely in this area to ensure full and robust rectification works could be undertaken.
“Graham takes both health and safety; and quality on all of our sites very seriously. That is why we carry out robust testing and commissioning prior to handover. It is not uncommon for issues to be identified during testing so that we can rectify them. We can confirm that full quality assurance procedures have been adhered to on this project. An investigation has been instructed to ensure full understanding of the cause of the leak.
“The North West Community Campus will be completed as per the agreed programme with the authority, creating state of the art facilities of a high quality for North West Dumfries and Graham construction are proud in delivering this project.”
In a statement, Dumfries and Galloway Council said: “Dumfries and Galloway Council were informed that there had been a leakage during testing. Grahams have given us their assurance regarding the issue being fully rectified and all necessary checks and due diligence being carried out.
“At the moment, the facility is still under the ownership of Graham Construction. The Council will not take ownership of the building until all construction works have been completed to the satisfaction of the Council.
“North West Community Campus will be a state of the art, modern learning environment for use by pupils and the community. We look forward to opening our doors to welcome pupils when the term starts on 21 August.”
No-one from Hub South West Scotland was immediately available to comment.
