Nursery which closed suddenly could be demolished

A nursery which shut suddenly earlier this year may be demolished, according to a report going before Edinburgh councillors.

The document comes after a request by SNP councillor Cathy Fullerton for an explanation of the nursery’s closure was agreed at a full council meeting in March.

Parents of pupils at Calderglen Early Learning and Childcare centre were told on February 26 that the nursery would close ‘permanently’ on March 2.

The report states this was meant to be communicated as a closure for the rest of the education session, and an officer was on site the next day to inform parents of this.

Despite this, according to the document, demolition of the nursery is now being considered.

Calderglen’s closure came after significant damage to the roof was identified in an inspection on February 12, coming days after a small portion of the building’s ceiling fell in.

The report spells out the process by which staff decided to close the nursery, and some information on the steps that led to demolition coming up as an option.

Built in 1972, Calderglen is a prefabricated, single storey nursery with two playrooms, registered to take 64 children between three years old and school starting age.

The report states heavy rainfall in January of this year led to a ‘significant leak’ starting in the ceiling of one of the playrooms on February 3.

Staff responded by closing off that part of the playroom so children could not reach the area under it.

On February 4, the playroom was closed to repair the leak, with children usually in there temporarily moved to another space in the building.

But on February 5, a ‘small section’ of the playroom’s ceiling collapsed, meaning children in that nursery class could no longer attend it.

This led to the children assigned to that playroom being moved to a vacant nursery class at Sighthill primary school, with the intention of moving them back to Calderglen after repairs were finished.

The original plan was to re-felt the roof over a period of three weeks, but inspections in advance of the works found that deeper layers of the roof were saturated with water.

A further detailed inspection on February 12 found that the damage to the roof was significantly more extensive than expected, and not limited to the area over the playroom.

The report states that it is ‘clear that a lot of water ingress’ had caused significant damage to the roof over time.

The conclusion of council staff after the February 12 inspection, following a series of meetings in late February, was that the only ‘viable’ option was to consider replacing the entire roof.

This would cost an estimated £352k and take up to 20 weeks to complete.

No ‘immediate risk’ was identified during the survey, but concerns were raised that further heavy rainfall could impact the safety of building users.

The conclusion of the meetings in February was that the building should close from March 2 in order to ensure children and staff were kept safe, and to consider options for next steps.

Council staff found that there was available capacity at the early years settings at Sighthill, Canalview and Clovenstone nursery classes, and the Sighthill early learning centre.

At this point, the closure, the unclear communication regarding the future of the building, and details about alternative accommodation were shared with parents.

Despite the report stating that the centre was to close temporarily, the council communications team told press on February 27 that the ‘recommendation is now for the nursery to permanently close’.

The report continued to state that, due to the typical life span of prefabricated buildings like the Calderglen Nursery being 30 years, it would be ‘prudent’ to consider ‘other options for Early Years’ investment in the area’.

It adds that accurate costs for demolishing the building will not become clear until a full survey is completed.

A further report in September this year will include an investigation of the costs for demolishing buildings of a similar age and size.

In addition, it will include an assessment of building improvements required in the local learning estate, and develop a business case for ‘the best value option to meet future Early Years demand’ in the area.

Councillors will consider the report at Tuesday’s education committee meeting.