Roof at Lochgilphead’s new school still not repaired and half of sports hall still unusable – one year on

On 9th January 2008, not long after the Lochgilphead Joint Campus became operational, a storm, surprisingly, ripped off sections of its new roof. The damaged roof covered the Sports / Mid Argyll Sports Centre area.

The floor of half of the Sports Hall was damaged by water pouring in. What is described as ‘a temporary roof’ making the area ‘wind and water-tight’ has been in place since. This ‘temporary roof’ is in fact a tarpaulin – which is securely held down but is certainly not water tight. When it rains, water still gets in.

While the rest of the sports facilities and spaces are in use, this area remains unusable and unavailable to the school and to the community – almost one year after the damage.

The school itself is powerless to take action, although it is surprising that pupils, parents and the wider community have been so passive in such an unacceptable situation.

The active agents in this matter are Argyll and Bute Council and ABC Schools Ltd, their partner in the Public Private Partnership that built the campus.

Under the terms of the partnership, ABC Schools Ltd built the campus and delivered it to the Council. HTe repair of the roof is the responsibility of ABC Schools Ltd and the Council has told For Argyll that ‘they are in the process of doing so’.

The Council says that it has been ‘in close discussion with ABC Schools regarding the progress of repair’ and that, since the incident occurred, ABC Schools have held detailed discussions with their insurers, loss adjustors and the building contractor in a continuing and concerted effort to bring this matter to resolution to ensure that the repairs, when effected, will fully address the cause of the damage to the roof and ensure that such an event will not re-occur’.

The focus of their joint and separate actions seems incurably bureaucratic. Discussion to ensure that something does not happen again come a long way second to getting back onto the school a roof that should not have failed so quickly in the first place.

The Council says that it has been advised by the ABC Schools Board that: ‘discussions between them and their preferred build contractor to conclude the contract and commence works for the permanent repair of the roof are now in their final stages and completion of this is imminent although the Council has not yet been advised of the timescale for the works’ completion’.

In the same breath as admitting that they have not been given a date for completion (have they even got a start date?), the Council says that it is: closely monitoring matters to ensure they are progressed and resolved as soon as possible’.

Twelve months after the event, twelve months without access to brand new facilities for a joint campus and a community is a very loose interpretation of ‘as soon as possible’.

The real focus of the Council’s concern, from its statement to For Argyll, would seem to be on matters other than getting the roof back on the school and getting those still-unused facilities back into operation..

In its statement, the Council takes pains to assure the public that the terms of the agreement between itself and ABC Schools Ltd mean that the Council is: ‘ not required to pay for any part of the building, or services within it, that are not provided or not available for use’. Do those who need their school and their schooling to provide them with the contracted facilities care about this?

The Council notes energetically that: ‘The Special Projects Team are enforcing the contract in this respect’, while it is manifestly not enforcing the contract to get the damage put right.

It says that: ‘The Council has and bears no risk in relation to maintenance, repair or non provision of service and any increase in costs in relation to these’. So thats all right then. The building has no proper roof and the campus has been without a major facility for a year but the Council bears no risk.

Then, in a sentence that defies logic and the evidence to date, it says: ‘This (the fact that the Council bears no risk) acts as a contractual and commercial incentive on ABC Schools Ltd to resolve issues that arise at the earliest opportunity’. Twelve months into this unacceptable limbo, where is the evidence of any ‘incentive’ on ABC Schools to get the damages repaired at all, least of all at ‘the earliest opportunity’?

The sop to the community is that, when the repairs are done and the area reinstated: ‘..the Council has previously agreed to incorporate a rebound board and seating to create a viewing area in the hall which will
increase the facilities available beyond those included in the original contract’.

Everyone understands the difficulties in which Argyll and Bute Council operate, serving the second largest local authority area and the third most dispersed population in Scotland with a budget long inadequate to the needs.

It needs however, to attune its priorities to its responsibilities for service and to take the wheel strongly when it is in the driving seat, rather than frittering away time in ‘discussions’.

This was a new campus, bringing together all of the education provision in the area for the first time, with shared facilities also open to the community. If the Council is not responsible for the risk, it is responsible for its choice of partner. If that partner is not fulfilling its responsibilities the Council should have taken strong action long ago to compel it to do so.

For Argyll is now asking the Council:

• What is the start date for the repairs to the building?
• Is there or is there to be an enquiry into the structural failure of the new roof so early in its life?
• What is the ‘commercial risk’ and what are ‘the incentives’ that ‘ensure’ ABC Schools Ltd’s ‘provision of the facility and services’
• What is the penalty to be applied to ABC Schools Ltd for the twelve month delay in repairing a failed element of their own construction?