Update – the comhairle said that Bayble, Barvas, Balivanich and Daliburgh are the ones affected by the window problems.
MOST of the windows in new primary schools in the Western Isles must be inspected and reinstalled after several incidents which could have seriously injured pupils.
It has emerged that, possibly because they have been installed the wrong way round, rooflight windows have dropped without warning into classrooms and other internal rooms and pupils and staff have escaped injury only by chance. 
Education chiefs were also aghast to learn that many windows at four of the recently-completed island schools, part of a project costing up to £70 million, have been installed inside out with the toughened panes – designed to withstand blows from footballs and other playground missiles – being on the inside.
Fears for pupils’ and staff safety heightened among island education chiefs recently after one of the wrongly-installed toughened panes shattered in an incident which the council has mysteriously described in internal reports as “a spontaneous fracture”.
Western Isles Council last night (WED) stressed it would not be paying anything extra for the detailed inspection and repair programme which must now be undertaken by builder FMP, a collaboration of three Northern Ireland construction firms Farrans (Construction) Ltd, H&J Martin and Patton Group (which is now in administration).
The suspicion is that a series of window defects have resulted in many unsafe installations throughout the schools but the precise cause and extent is still not known. The report of the findings will should be ready next week.
Among other ongoing defects reported by teachers at the largest school, the Nicolson Institute in Stornoway which opened to pupils last August, are failures of the automatic ventilation systems, failure to detect the presence of people by automated lighting systems, classroom smartboards being installed too low to be seen by pupils and heating pipes clanking so noisily that lessons have had to be abandoned. Many reports have also been filed about leaking roofs at the schools.
One teacher wrote in a report in December: “Our school looks fantastic from the outside. Inside, it is a different story with a cheap plasticky finish on everything and a different system failing with almost daily regularity.
“This is not just a series of minor snagging problems. I’m afraid to say that this is a shoddy mess.”
It also emerged that two rooflights suddenly fell into the Balivanich School on Benbecula in separate incidents in the last few months. According to a source on Benbecula, the window crashed onto the desk of the school secretary. However, it happened on a Saturday so the office was unoccupied.
Three weeks ago, a similar incident happened at Sgoil an Rubha, the new school at Bayble on Lewis.
The islands’ council confirmed that the detailed inspection which it has now ordered, and which may eventually cost scores of thousands of pounds, will include the following:
- A photo survey of all the rooflights prior to works
- The removal of pressure plates, trims and weather tapes
- A photo survey of existing clearance and spacings
- The removal of the glazing units which will then be checked for defects before being reinstalled properly
A full report on the findings of the inspection will be produced by FMP on all the works. In the meantime, the council insisted, protective measures are in place at all rooflights.
There has been a lot of recent negotiation over whether there was a need to reverse the windows which were found to be toughened on the inside.
The council said: “The current specification in terms of the lower pane being toughened meets the guidance and British Standards. However, in consultation with the designers, it has been agreed to reverse the glazing panels during the inspection works.
“This change to specification will still comply with British Standards but will also give the additional protection of an inner pane of laminate glass in the unlikely event of a further case of spontaneous fracture of the toughened glass.”
The new schools each secured Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method (BREEAM) Excellent accreditation, one of the most comprehensive and widely-recognised measures of a building’s environmental performance. That was before the window flaws were spotted.
The four island schools where almost every window will have to be checked and reinstalled are at the 100-pupil West Side Primary School at Barvas, the 150-pupil Balivanich Primary School on Benbecula, the 175-pupil Point Primary School at Bayble, Isle of Lewis and the 90-pupil Daliburgh Primary School on South Uist.
The builders have so far not responded to a request for comment.
The schools building budget was as small as the Government could make it, and it shows. The buildings will need demolition and replacement in 30 years, and we’ll be back where we started.
When I started reading this I thought it was a late April fool…
Maybe the contractors should cover the faults with brown envelopes
You haven’t mentioned the building leaking like a sieve – it’s got more holes than a fish net! Will the official uniform include indoor wet weather gear?
Seriously though….how on earth did they achieve completion and get certified with leaking roof and windows in backward – has anyone actually sighted these documents or are they the stuff of legend and ”away with the Government” :-S
Just for information; there is no such School as Bayble School.
There is a Sgoil na Rudha (which is in Garrabost, if you really want pedantry).
This is just the beginning, where were the Clerk of Works whilst these schools were being built?
wait until the foundations start cracking it was after all started in the coldest frostiest winter we’ve had …. wrong build , wrong place , look out for the Portacabins ..but …but where will they go .. ? lol
Not in the slightest bit surprised.
Having worked on several PPP contracts in the past , but not these schools, I found the quality control/ building control/ Clark of Works, department in the Council shockingly inadequate.
On one contract when any doggie work needed to be hidden, the Clerk of Works was distracted by asking him for his “advice” on some regulation or other; this would usually take him a day or two to research. On his return to site “hay presto” the offending work would be dressed up with no faults visible.
So don’t blame the Irish workers for taking “short cuts” when the opportunity presented itself.
I shared info with you some months ago Iain, of roof light window problems at Balivanich School. Window fell in on to desk of school secretary – fortunately it happened on a Saturday. The Comhairle better check out its public liability insurance – quickly.
Reading this again, and on Hebrides News, makes me wonder how incompetent/corner-cutting the installers must have been, and the same for those meant to inspect their work before passing it. How the h*ll can anyone fit a window so badly that it actually falls out of a roof??
@Ann
I’m guessing that the fabric of the building was unheated and a little damp (being under construction) and that with sealing up and heating there was some consequent shrinkage. Only a wild guess though.
Council clerks of work? a standing joke in the building trade,you would be as well with a blind man,no disrespect to a blind person.The buildings are falling apart already,one out of three contractors has fallen apart already,the phrase *penny wise pound foolish* comes to mind ,time will tell.
Remembering of course that Seamus Fandango of failed UBC is being allowed to tender for new HHP housing development having left Harris House open to the elements. All we can assume is that these contracts are handed out for reasons other than quality, integrity and solvency.
I wonder what our convenor has to say on the matter?………..
Maybe it’s punishment from above for fmp working on these contracts on Sunday .??? Yet again our esteemed leaders have f##ked up ,!
Cannot believe children are being put at risk in this way; we do know how to build buildings. Not a fan of the ‘blame’ culture but when it comes to children being endangered by shoddy work – am changing my mind, want to blame someone!
Welcome to the false world of modern day stupidity.Rather than take a solid old building and upgrade it,we walk away,and erect a big shiny expensive,problamatic white elephant,on the basis its a vast improvement.Twenty years down the line,the elephant is grey and very sick,and awaiting impending oblivion,whilst the old school has had a little money spent on it,is in rude health enjoying a new role,and will go on for the next century.Reality and white elephants rarely co-exist
James 44 – you are wondering what our Convener thinks about it ?
The answer is, nothing.
The Convener and Leader have moved on. They are now deciding the man who will be King of the new republic of the Western Isles.
As for putting children at risk . The school bus fiasco shows that they don’t give a f~+k about the kids.
Flyingporkers – You recon the new schools will last 20 years ??? – a bit optimistic I think .
What happens when FMP closes down and is dissolved by its principals? Who pays for the snagging? Answer: the Comhairle.
Risk transfer to the private sector my @rse.
It just emphasises what I’ve been saying; our over-manned, over-paid council are the most useless pack of drongos since the BCCI fiasco. They couldn’t organize a f*** up in a brothel. I predict that in about ten years we, the poor benighted council tax payers, will have to fork out millions to refurbish these new schools.
News statement from CnES press officer today refers to three incidents of roof-lights collapsing into rooms. Well, two were at Balivanich School, one in Secretary’s office, the other in pre-school infants classroom: many months’ ago. Why were the public and parents not informed at the time? Cover up of such incidents, with such grave and serious potential consequences, is a gross dereliction of duty, bordering on corporate criminality.
Re: Cathie Mary Maciver, I don’t think it is about “blame” as I do not favour the blame culture either, however I do believe in Accountability and Responsibility and as safety should be paramount in a school setting I do not think it unreasonable to question the standard of work done. As for Rory’s comment about shortcuts & don’t blame the Irish for taking them…..OF COURSE! the timescale was unfeasable and the conditions difficult, this was compensated by ALOT of drinking, fighting & f*$king and many many times when the various foremen were supposed to be guiding their men they were @ McNeill’s or The Lewis. So no wonder…..
it was a bargain for 333 windows and 50 doors for only 1 million pounds to the sub-contractor….who know’s how much the council were charged by the main contractor….
Rory,l do not think they will last twenty years,more a case that they will be have to be used for twenty years,much like tower blocks that went past sell by date within ten years
Flyingporkers – Got to agree with you , I see lots of remedial work in the future to keep them in service.
Tracy – Call it blame ,call it responsibility, call it anything you like, but one thing for sure the final bill for the repairs will rest with the Council rate payers. Having worked with the “Paddy’s” for many years they will find a way out of paying : ) Probably something on the lines of the contract liabilities being passed over to a management company which will then go bankrupt.