Concrete blunder leaves Usher Hall revamp in limbo

Work has had to be halted on part of the multi-million-pound revamp of the Usher Hall after a blunder meant plans were drawn up to pour reinforced concrete on top of power cables.

Horrified ScottishPower engineers warned that it would make it impossible to restore electricity to thousands of city centre homes and businesses if there was a fault in the lines.

The problem meant work on the outdoor element of the redevelopment had to stop while the cables were re-routed, pushing the project even further behind schedule.

The city council is now facing a race against time to get work finished before the start of the Edinburgh International Festival on Friday, with some parts of the job being put off until after it finishes.

It was already estimated that the total cost of the refurbishment - originally estimated at 9 million - will rise to more than 30m, but the latest in a long line of complications threatens to push the cost up further.

Councillor Gordon Buchan, culture and leisure spokesman for the city's Conservative group, said: "It seems that, yet again, we have got another problem and yet again it has delayed the project further.

"It is a concern that it seems like nobody has had proper design discussions with the utility companies, which has led to this problem. It is yet another worry for the project and I would be interested to hear how much more this will cost and where the money will come from.

"We know that money is tight and we cannot have a bottomless pit. Many people are concerned about these delays, especially since this is supposed to be the flagship venue for the international festival. It does not bode well that the diggers are still outside this late in the day."

The outdoor work, which was the final stage of the Usher Hall project, will see new landscaping that will link the venue with the neighbouring Traverse and Lyceum theatres and allow for pavement cafes and outdoor performances.

ScottishPower sources say that after approving the council's plans last summer, its engineers visited the site in December to discover the contractor planned to pour reinforced concrete on top of its cables.

"If you pour reinforced concrete on to our high-voltage cables it will be impossible to get to them if there's a power cut and we need to fix it," said the source.

Council sources claim it was only after they suggested sinking the power cables further into the ground that ScottishPower insisted the cables be diverted. The source admitted, however, that the contractors had been forced to supply more information to ScottishPower in December.

Councillor Deidre Brock, the city's culture and leisure leader, said: "The landscaping works in the area surrounding the Usher Hall will be completed before the Edinburgh International Festival begins at the concert hall, aside from any ‘snagging' works which we would expect might need to be carried out in due course - such as replacement of any defective ‘setts'."

A ScottishPower spokesman said: "We can confirm that the council agreed to move some of our cables in the area while they did this project."

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