Storm panels for one of the north’s newest schools were designed on the wrong measurements, we can reveal.
Wick Community Campus – opened in 2017 at a cost of almost £50 million – was damaged in November.
Panels were ripped off the building during Storm Arwen, leaving a gaping hole in the wall and temporarily closing the school.
And now, we have seen an investigative report that reveals the storm panels were actually designed for a different – and smaller – school.
During the design process, project engineers gave panel supplier Rodeca measurements for nearby Noss Primary School instead of Wick Community Campus.
Although both sites have similar altitudes and expected wind speeds, the community campus building is more than 20 feet taller. It also has a larger footprint.
The report also says that unusually severe winds which caused havoc in other parts of town also played a part in the damage.
Experts have already temporarily repaired the building and declared it “completely safe”. A permanent repair is coming soon.
What went wrong?
According to a report commissioned by Hub North Scotland, Highland Council’s development partner on the Wick Community Campus project, the damage to the campus’s games hall on Friday, Nov 26 was caused by a combination of three factors:
- Incorrect site data, which led designers to underestimate the amount of wind the building could withstand
- Particularly high wind speeds during Storm Arwen
- A ‘vortex’ effect caused by wind rushing between campus buildings
On the day of the storm, the Met Office reported wind speeds of about 75 mph in the area.
But the damage report found that a ‘vortex’ created by the channels between campus buildings meant that the gusts hitting the games hall were likely much stronger.
Wick Community Council vice chairman Allan Farquhar said that he worries wind speeds are regularly higher than mentioned in the report.
The community council has asked the campus project team to reassess the site. Mr Farquhar said designers should take into consideration wind speeds above 90 mph, which he says are common locally.
Wind resistance calculations were based on the wrong school
In an email from Nov 29, a Rodeca employee said that they had designed the storm panels based on site data which turned out to be for Noss Primary, also in Wick, rather than the town’s community campus.
Noss Primary is across the river and about 1.5 miles away from the community campus.
The incident report found that the sites have similar expected wind gusts and altitude.
But the eaves at Noss Primary are about 10 feet high, compared to about 32 feet at Wick Community Campus.
Repairing the damage
A spokesman for Hub North said that they replaced the damaged panels shortly after the storm and added extra fixings to keep them in place.
“Those affected panels will now be replaced along with minor works to add a small number of extra fixings as a precautionary measure, following an inspection by independent structural engineers.
“These works will be completed in agreement with the school. No other part of the campus is affected, and the building is completely safe.”
The timetable for the repairs depends on a work schedule that will minimise disruption at the school. The spokesman added that Highland Council isn’t likely to have to pay for the repairs.
Highland Council directed questions to Hub North.
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