NHS Grampian seeks building assurances after school concerns

NHS Grampian is seeking assurances that health centres are not affected by similar concerns to those raised about Edinburgh schools built by the same contractor.

Several Edinburgh schools have had to be shut.

Centres at Woodside in Aberdeen and Forres were built by Miller Construction under a public private partnership (PPP) in 2014.

Miller also built Aberdeen's Health and Care Village.

NHS Grampian said that, while the buildings were of a different design to schools, it had asked for assurances that similar defects were not inherent in any of the designs.

Structural tests

An Aberdeen City Council spokesperson said: "We can confirm that Miller Construction was not involved in any of Aberdeen City Council's school build programme (the 3Rs Project), which involved Public Private Partnership (PPP).

"As a matter of precaution we have organised a series of structural tests on the schools, which were built or refurbished as part of the council's 3Rs Project.

"These tests will be carried out this week during the school holidays."

Aberdeenshire Council said structural engineers had already given its schools the all-clear, and Moray Council said it was confident that all of its schools met appropriate standards.

And parents in Shetland have been reassured there are no safety concerns with any school buildings.

A total of 17 Edinburgh schools, including 10 primaries, five secondaries and two additional support needs schools, have been shut due to concern over the standard of construction.