Somewhat OT: Scottish Schools

We had ours done when we moved in. The house was 91 years old, although I think they'd failed some years before! Our replacements are resin.

Reply to
Bob Eager
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If they didn't follow the architects specification and building control didn't spot it then it's down to the original building Co., which has conveniently been taken over by Galliford Try (who should now be liable)

Reply to
Andrew

Woolworths in Worthing could have gone that way. Three story building just off the sea front, with an exposed cavity, brick clad wall facing west. The mortar could be dug out by a child, which of course they did, until the entire skin was removed and rebuilt. I'm Surprised the 1987 and 1989 storms didn't rip it off but it was facing the prevailing wind.

Reply to
Andrew

Do you have to bring everything down to a racist explanation?

Reply to
F

"It remains unclear exactly what faults have been uncovered. After discover ing that wall ties and header ties - which securely bind brick exterior wal ls to the main structure - were missing in two primary schools and then two secondary schools, the council ordered ESP to do full structural and mater ial surveys to uncover other possible flaws." (from )

Reply to
mark.bluemel

By and large Poles are useless wankers. And no guarantees when they're back in Poland. Serves these tossers that employs them right.

Reply to
harry

ering that wall ties and header ties - which securely bind brick exterior w alls to the main structure - were missing in two primary schools and then t wo secondary schools, the council ordered ESP to do full structural and mat erial surveys to uncover other possible flaws."

There's only one cause for a fault like that. Missing wall ties. Building is not old enough for them to have corroded. Or be galv.

Reply to
harry

If I heard correctly on the radio this morning, Building Control did not inspect - the builder self-certified the construction.

Owain

Reply to
spuorgelgoog

Well, if they are useless wankers, it doesn't say much for the British workers whose jobs they have filled.

Reply to
Richard

Whatever the problems of PFI, structural (and other) problems aren't limited to buildings built under it.

When I was at secondary school in the first half of the 80s, our council built school was a mess. It was built in the 60s, the groundworks weren't completed properly and the walls of the hall were moving apart. Angle-irons had to be bolted to the walls to widen the tops and stop the roof falling in.

There were huge areas of glass, baking us in the summer and freezing us in the winter.

The roofs were flat, causing numerous leaks.

The downpipes and stacks were internal, so the chemicals from the labs above frequently dissolved them and leaked straight into the classrooms.

The entire school was designed as four blocks around a central hall - picture a rectangle, with four squares, each at a corner, but overlapping enough for a double doorway. Languages, history, geography, etc. were in the North block; maths and sciences in the South block; woodwork, metalwork and engineering in the West block and the gym in the East block. This of course meant everyone moving through the hall from lesson to lesson. No other way was provided, except outdoors and the West block wasn't even accessible this way without walking over muddy grass. Of course this meant getting soaked whenever it was raining and the hall was in use for exams, tests, etc.

Reply to
Steve Walker

Seems half-baked to me.

Reply to
Richard

Doesn't that jerking knee get in the way?

Quite. The problem is incompetent builders. The source of the finance is irrelevant.

Reply to
Huge

Sounds like Hunstanton School, revered by architects and now a listed building. Years back when the Architects Journal visited it, the head more or less said it was a disaster.

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Reply to
Tony Bryer

There are certainly similarities.

This one was Urmston Grammar School for Boys.

In the baby boom of the 60s, the existing school was too small, so they built another one about a mile away and split them as boys' and girls' schools.

In the 80s, while I was there, there was a limited interchange, with both schools bussing pupils back and forth for a few non-core lessons. At the same time building work was going on at the old school and over a period of years (starting just as I left) they merged the two schools again on the old site.

The "new" school was then demolished and replaced with a housing estate.

So all those problems and a 30 year lifespan - for a building that won design awards when it was built!

Reply to
Steve Walker

You can't expect building control to check elementary stuff like this. It's about workmanship and ordinary tradesman skills/knowledge.

They've obviously had the cheapest bunch of wankers in they could get hold of. I never heard of bricklayers failing to put wall ties in before. Where the f*ck would you find tossers like these?

Reply to
harry

Interesting link that. We have the same wankers as architects today. Acres of glass. You only have to watch "Grand Designs". Totally impractical and unliveable in.

Reply to
harry

In Scotland?

Reply to
Capitol

What are they going to check otherwise?

Well you will struggle to blame the poles as they were built a while ago.

Reply to
dennis

That settles it. The Thais can take the blame.

Reply to
Richard

Probably descendents of the same bunch of cowboys who worked for Homemakers of Saltdean back in the 1970's. The brickies they employed threw all the snots down inside the cavity and even inside the gas flue blocks. Luckily they went bust in 1991.

The cavity above the first three courses of brickwork above the DPC was solid with discarded mortar and every wall tie had a lump of mortar all around it the size of a wasps nest. Timber joists and Boulton and Paul window frames were just dumped in heaps with no attempt to protect from the weather or damage from dump trucks.

Out of 145 houses, only a handful had their marley modern rooftiles correctly fitted, with a 3 degree downwards tilt of the asbestos cement undercloak. You can spot these few houses, one or two still have the original timber barge boards, while on the 100+ houses where the roof was done incorrectly they rotted out the right angle joint between fascia and barge board within 10 years.

Reply to
Andrew

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