Nineteen council buildings across Edinburgh have defects similar to one which caused a wall to collapse at a primary school in the capital, a new report has revealed. Checks were carried out following the incident at Oxgangs Primary School in January 2016, which sparked the temporary closure of 17 schools across the capital. A new report by the public spending watchdog said that by the end of January this year, 154 properties had been checked in the city, with 19 found to have "issues similar to those identified at Oxgangs School". Libraries, care homes, schools and community centres were among 19 other properties in the Scottish capital that had similar failings to the defects that caused a wall to collapse at Oxgangs Primary in Edinburgh two years ago, a report by the Accounts Commission today states. The Accounts Commission said the discovery of the faults "signifies the importance of all councils in Scotland undertaking regular, comprehensive structural risk assessments and inspections on public buildings to ensure the safety of service users". A previous report by Professor John Cole found it was only down to timing and luck that no deaths or injuries occurred and raised concerns about other public buildings across the country – a worry echoed in today’s report. The school was one of 17 built as part of a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme by Edinburgh Schools Partnership. The report said remedial work to address the defects identified in the council buildings was ongoing, and that the buildings affected included ones funded using traditional methods, as well as through PPP and the more recent non-profit distributing model. The report stressed the "need for councils to ensure that standards of quality and service" in building standards are maintained, despite the pressure on local authority budgets. People must have confidence in the safety and integrity of public buildings.”

The council’s finance and resources committee recently found £153 million was needed over the next five years to tackle the “history of under investment” in the authority’s estate, with work to get underway this year. The Accounts Commission said the incident at Oxgangs Primary School "revealed serious faults in the procurement, design and construction of the PPP schools covered by this contract" - adding that these could have had "life-threatening consequences". Graham Sharp, chairman of the Accounts Commission, said: "The City of Edinburgh Council responded quickly and comprehensively to the wall collapse at Oxgangs Primary School. Accounts Commission chair Graham Sharp said: “All councils in Scotland must ensure public buildings in their care are regularly checked and appropriately maintained. “Where a council employs a company to provide construction services, it’s vital that it puts in place appropriate checks and controls.”

Graham Sharp, Chair, Accounts Commission said: “While reduced resources mean councils must make difficult decisions about service provision, they should have an appropriate level of expertise to deliver and safely maintain buildings. Graham Sharp, chairman of the Accounts Commission – the public spending watchdog for local government – said: “People must have confidence in the safety and integrity of public buildings.” A council spokeswoman said: “The safety of the public is of utmost importance to the City of Edinburgh Council and we fully acknowledge the need for regular, comprehensive structural assessments of public buildings and are in the process of delivering a series of actions identified by Professor John Cole in an independent report into the closure of Edinburgh schools in 2016.”
A report into the partial collapse of an Edinburgh school reveals similar construction errors in nineteen other public buildings in the city.