New Dumfries school campus closure review pursued

The school was shut on safety ground two weeks ago

The Scottish government and Scottish Futures Trust are being asked to carry out a review of what went wrong at a £28m campus closed on safety grounds.

The North West Community Campus in Dumfries shut two weeks ago after a smart board struck a pupil.

It was one of a number of incidents at the brand new facility which opened in August.

Dumfries and Galloway Council has now asked for an investigation to be carried out.

Timeline: The North West Community Campus

A leak was discovered in the building just weeks before it was due to open

8 November 2016 - Work officially begins on the multi-million pound project to replace Lochside and St Ninian's primary schools, Langlands special secondary school and Maxwelltown High School.

25 July 2018 - An investigation is carried out into the cause of a leak in the building just weeks before it opens.

21 August 2018 - The campus opens to pupils.

24 August 2018 - The school is shut just days later after a child was hit by a door.

28 August 2018 - The facility reopens after safety checks.

7 September 2018 - The campus is closed indefinitely after a pupil is struck by a smart board.

Temporary arrangements have been put in place to allow pupils to be taught at the schools they moved out of or other secondaries in the town.

The council said those would remain in place until it was satisfied with safety assurances at the building.

'Completely unacceptable'

A report to the local authority said independent investigations of the site had found "high and medium priority items" which would present "operational health and safety risks".

It added it would seek reimbursement of the costs of moving pupils into other schools from developers Hub South West.

South of Scotland MSP Colin Smyth said both they and contractors Graham should be "held accountable" over any construction failings at the site.

"It is completely unacceptable that what should be a fantastic new building for young people and the wider community in north west Dumfries has become a building requiring endless investigations and top consultants to ensure safety," he said.

"The issues that are being identified are not simply snagging issues that are to be expected from new buildings."

'Extremely disappointed'

A spokesman for Graham said it was working closely with the council to get staff and pupils back onto the campus and had "fully supported" the checks by independent experts.

"We take any quality issues extremely seriously and have been working in Dumfries and Galloway for over five years," he said.

"In the past year we have handed over two extremely successful schools.

"We look forward to handing over another exemplar scheme in October with the opening of the Bridge facility.

"While we are extremely disappointed with the issues which have arisen in the North West Campus, we are determined to deliver an exceptional facility and are confident that the ongoing completion works will be of the highest quality."

Nobody from Hub South West was available to comment.