The mystery of the crumbling Edinburgh tenement

The road outside the block has been closed since the evacuation on Monday

The first sign there was something wrong came in early December.

At a residents' meeting in the block of flats in Edinburgh's Newhaven, one of the neighbours told the others about a 3cm crack that had appeared on the external wall of their bay window.

An independent engineer was asked to come and take a look at the damage.

He told the city council he was concerned and the following week every one of the 12 flats received a letter saying the local authority would have to put up scaffolding at some point to make sure the building was safe.

Christmas came and went, the year turned, and that that was the last the residents heard about it.

Until Monday evening, when they were told the building was no longer safe and they had to leave immediately.

The new Edinburgh tram line passes directly in front of the sandstone block (right)

The sandstone block has stood at the corner of Lindsay Road and Anchorfield since the 1890s. It faces a busy main road which links the port of Leith with the city's north-western suburbs.

This was once a heavily industrialised area dominated by train lines, engineering sheds and ship-building yards.

Over the decades, much of that has been stripped away and to some extent the area now mirrors the new Edinburgh.

What industry remains sits alongside expensive new flats, shopping centres, hotels, gyms and restaurants.

And right in front of the block is the latest part of the city's tram network. The Newhaven end of a 2.9 mile extension which opened in June 2023 after four years of construction.

A traditional sandstone tenement flat in the heart of such a neighbourhood is now prime property in a city whose council has declared a "housing emergency".

But the people who live there now find themselves in a crisis of their own.

A dozen households were made homeless in Monday's evacuation. They were given an hour to leave, with council officials going from door to door breaking the bad news.

The main road outside has been completely closed and none of them has been allowed to return.

Thilo Lam bought a flat in the tenement two years ago

Thimo Lam, 30, is a classroom assistant who lives in one of the flats with his wife and daughter. They bought their home two years ago.

"We got the keys on 1 April. It feels like a joke now," he says.

When they bought, a survey said there were no structural issues. After they moved in, hairline cracks started to appear on the internal walls and on the walls of neighbouring flats.

Then on Monday evening he received the message.

"Our neighbours contacted us to say the flats were being evacuated. We rushed home and managed to get some things out because we have an 18-month-old and we need clothes and nappies.

"We are very lucky that my wife's parents live locally so we can stay with them. Some of our neighbours were not as lucky," he says.

The Prom Bar and two other businesses are part of the block

Christopher Milton was another of those who had to move out on Monday evening. The 34-year-old project manager has spent the last week sleeping on a friend's kitchen floor.

"It's been a complete nightmare. It's been stressful having to keep working through this. Even my car is stuck inside the cordon. I'm trying to get that out before the building potentially falls on top of it," he says.

Also affected are the three businesses that take up the ground floor of the corner block - a laundrette, a takeaway and a pub.

The Prom Bar used to be the kind of place referred to as an old man's pub. It was taken over and refurbished by its new owner just two years ago and now attracts a younger, more prosperous clientele, in keeping with the changing demographics of the area.

He had no idea there were any issues with the building until Monday, when staff were given 10 minutes to clear the bar.

It has been closed ever since and he has not been allowed back in. He has to wait while his tills stay shut and his stock goes off.

Christopher Milton is now sleeping on a friend's floor

Some of the residents have looked across the road to the tram stop and wonder whether the construction works may have caused the ground under their property to be disturbed.

The City of Edinburgh Council says an investigation into the cause of the crack is ongoing. It says given the serious concerns about the structure of the building, the safest course of action was to evacuate all households without delay.

For those who cannot stay with friends and family, the council says it will make sure they have somewhere safe to stay.

Emergency scaffolding is due to go up this weekend then further inspections will be carried out to see whether it is safe for the families to return.

In the meantime, the road outside remains closed to traffic and pedestrians but the trams continue to run.