Marischal Square construction halted over site waste material

The Marischal Square project is in Aberdeen city centre

Construction work was halted at Aberdeen's Marischal Square development over concerns waste material was blocking safe access for workers.

The office, leisure and hotel development - valued at more than £100m - is due for completion in the summer.

Construction firm Morgan Sindall said work was halted on 7 April to review and improve procedures for handling waste and housekeeping on the site.

The Health and Safety Executive confirmed concerns had been raised.

In February, work was stood down after a forklift truck collided with fencing on the site, prompting a review of operations.

Site inspection

A spokesman for Morgan Sindall said of the waste situation: "The day-to-day operation of busy city centre construction sites inevitably results in the generation of waste material.

"Our procedures relating to the safe storage and appropriate disposal of this material are reviewed regularly as a matter of course, as part of our ongoing commitment to prioritise safety on all of our sites.

"On Friday 7 April we took the decision to temporarily stand down the Marischal Square site in order to review and improve the arrangements in place for waste management and general site housekeeping."

The company added: "A member of the Health and Safety Executive coincidentally attended on the following day, as part of an unscheduled site inspection.

"We informed them of our decision to stand the site down the previous day, had identified and were addressing the storage and removal of site debris in question, and restated our intention to ensure our own high standards are upheld by everyone working on the site."

A spokesperson for HSE said: "We can confirm that concerns were raised to us.

"Contractors at the site below have agreed to improvements highlighted by the HSE when we visited the site in Aberdeen earlier this month."