Aberdeen World Cup fan zone at risk amid fire safety and noise issues

Harbourworks bosses have just days to address fire safety and noise issues around their planned World Cup fan zone or the event will be called off.

Venue co-directors Scott Forrest and Rory Masson faced the city council’s licensing committee today to fight for a temporary public entertainment licence.

They are hoping to welcome football fans to the York Street warehouse and screen Scotland’s group stage matches during the tournament next month.

However, environmental health officers explained they were unhappy with their proposal as “a number of material issues remain outstanding”.

They claimed a fire risk assessment and fire safety report asked for last month had still not been submitted, along with noise management plans.

Meanwhile, concerns were raised over security guards also being asked to take on first aid duties and exactly how many fire exits there would be at the venue.

Officers asked for these details to be sent over “swiftly” so they can be assessed in two weeks, but without them they suggested the event would have to be cancelled.

Environmental health chief Alison Robertson attended the meeting to outline the issues her team had with the application.

While they found the first aid arrangements for the three Scotland matches to be “acceptable”, they didn’t have enough information or any potential future games.

She said: “In respect to the further events proposed after June 24, sufficient information has not been provided regarding anticipated attendance levels or first aid provision.

“The service does not consider it acceptable for security staff to undertake both security and first aid functions at events where alcohol is to be served for up to 1,600 attendees.”

Ms Robertson also hit out at “generic” health and safety risk assessments submitted by Harbourworks as they are not tailored specifically to the event.

Addressing fire risk concerns, the environmental health boss said more details were needed around the use of the roller shutter doors and ventilation, especially as fuel powered generators or gas operated catering vans could be used inside the warehouse.

Meanwhile, building standards manager Grant Tierney said the warehouse should not be used until all building warrant works are carried out and a completion certificate is accepted by the council.

Harbourworks is currently subject to a pending planning application seeking temporary permission to run as a multi-purpose events space.

The venue’s operations manager Jonathan Dawson admitted the team was late in submitting planning documents.

He said: “We’ve been engaging since around January with environmental health, planning and building control and we were just waiting for some feedback.

“We delivered a successful run of events in September and October and, maybe naively so, just assumed that it would be the same process this time around.

“We delivered events for up to 1,600 people, similar numbers that we’re doing this time around, albeit the main difference here is the hours of operation.”

However, Mr Dawson explained that the fan zone would be delivered in a similar way to the street food events held at Harbourworks last year, with some slight amendments.

He also didn’t believe Scotland fans would cause any trouble if the results didn’t go the way they wanted.

“I’m very confident that our crowd, the age demographics that we’ve got, the security that we’ve got in place, our experience and running these types of events that there won’t be any issues.”

Mr Forrest told the committee they were working on and had already addressed some concerns, and were “confident” they could get everything sorted out on time.

He added: “We already have the wheels in motion for quite a number of those elements, so we’re confident that we can get everything delivered and satisfactory.”

Co-director Mr Masson told members they had a meeting earlier this week with council chiefs to understand what was needed of them.

He explained they were going to “bring in some professionals” to help with the building warrant, noise and fire report to “get us across the line”.

Council solicitor Sandy Munro went on to tell the venue bosses that they had until June 5 to get approval from building control, planning and environmental health.

If not, the licence would be refused and the fan zone events would not be allowed to go-ahead, giving fans a week to make alternative plans elsewhere.

The duo faced the council’s licensing board last month, where they were granted permission to serve alcohol during Scotland’s initial three matches.