'Quality' control confusion forced Dumfries campus closure

The first problem at the school was blamed on a sprinkler fitting error

A report into the closure of a new school campus on safety grounds has found there was "confusion" over who was responsible for the quality of the work.

The North West Community Campus in Dumfries had to shut just weeks after it opened in August 2018.

A report found that the contractors, Graham's, were not properly questioned about its quality control.

The independent report was commissioned by the Scottish Futures Trust.

The £28m Dumfries facility was shut in September 2018 after a number of incidents in which staff and pupils were hurt - including a child being hit by a smart board.

What were the safety issues?

Staff room ceiling collapse

The ceilings were designed with services like sprinkler pipes and light fittings below the ceiling. The fittings should have been fixed to the structure and not the ceiling, which was not designed for the load and collapsed.

Sliding door coming off its rails

A sliding door that was used to conceal coats and bags on the ground floor came off its track and fell. A door stopper had not been installed - or had not been "installed appropriately" - causing the door to fail.

Child hit by smart board

A smart screen on a rise and fall mechanism became loose and struck a four-year-old child. The report was not able to determine the root cause of why this happened.

The report criticised the building contractors and Hub South West, who were responsible for delivering the project.

"Hub SW did not interrogate Graham's quality control, despite having the contractual powers and ability to do so," the report found.

"There is confusion over who was to deliver quality: is it Hub SW who are contracted to Dumfries and Galloway, or Grahams, who are contracted to Hub SW?

"We believe every level thought it had passed that obligation down the line until ultimately it is left to the subcontractors on the ground."

Dumfries and Galloway Council announced that it was seeking a review of what had gone wrong almost immediately after the school closed in September 2018.

Council leader Elaine Murray said: "It is unfortunate that we are again discussing the failure of a main contractor to meet contractual requirements and levels of good practice.

"It is unacceptable that we were faced with the issue of public safety after receiving assurances on a number of occasions from the contractor Graham and our development partner hub South West, that the building had been checked and double-checked. "

North West Campus was forced to close just weeks after opening in August 2018

Peter Reekie, chief executive of the Scottish Futures Trust (SFT), said there were "important lessons" to learn form the North West Campus project.

"SFT is committed to improving construction outcomes - for the public using the buildings, for public bodies procuring them, and for the companies and workers responsible for designing and building them.

"We will now feed those lessons into our work with our industry and public sector partners who have already committed significant resources to improving construction delivery."

A Graham spokesman said: "We welcome the report into the issues raised at this specific project, which have been successfully resolved, with valuable lessons learned."

Pupils finally returned to the school on 1 April 2019.