A probe into construction failings at the DG One Leisure centre in Dumfries has laid the foot of blame "unquestionably" with the contractor, Kier Construction.

The report, which runs to more than 350 pages, highlighted numerous failings on the development, which opened in 2008 at a cost of £17 million.

However, it was forced to close in October 2014 for major repair works, with vast portions of the centre having to be rebuilt. McLaughlin & Harvey were appointed to carry out the remediation works in 2016.

The author of the report, Professor John Cole CBE, said the inquiry was "surprised" at the range and extent of defects discovered within the building, with issues seeming to permeate "virtually all elements of the building", from the underground drainage through all aspects of the structure and fabric up to the construction of the roof.

He said: "The presence of so many diverse defects is evidence of fundamental failures in the implementation of quality control processes used by the main contractor and the design and build supply chain responsible for delivering the design, construction, supervision and inspection of the building."

Overall, the key findings of the report included;


• the contractors failure to provide the required standard of construction

• fundamental defects in the fire-proofing of the building

• waterproofing the enclosing tanks and drainage connections of pools is a fundamental requirement when constructing a building with three internal swimming pools and a spa pool

• multiple failures on the part of the contractor to adequately comply with the requirements of the Building (Scotland) Act 2003

• inadequate arrangements made for the monitoring of the quality of works on site

• adequately resourcing projects with relevant professional expertise and funding would enable the Council to act as an intelligent and informed customer

Mr Cole, who also led the probe into building failures at 17 of Edinburgh's schools, said the defects at DG One were similar to those that had been identified as the cause of the collapse of a wall at Oxgangs Primary School in January 2016.

He writes: "It is the view of the Inquiry that the widespread presence of these same failures in the DG One building lends further support to the finding of the Edinburgh Schools Inquiry that these failures are indicative of systemic problems in the quality of work provided by the construction industry."

After publishing the report, Dumfries and Galloway Council said Kier did not accept the invitation of the inquiry to send a representative and declined several requests to provide evidence.

Council Leader Elaine Murray said she has now referred the report to Police Scotland.

"We fully acknowledge all the inquiry's findings and thank Professor Cole and his inquiry team," she said.

"The findings of his Inquiry give a damning verdict in the quality of construction of DG One at the hands of Keir Northern.

"Professor Cole's Inquiry contains a number of lessons and issues for the Council to reflect upon. There are also matters for the attention of Scottish and UK Governments. Dumfries and Galloway Council will be acting upon these immediately but legislative changes must also come in response to this Inquiry.

"I have previously referred DG One Leisure Complex to both the Health and Safety Executive and to Police Scotland. Police Scotland have previously indicated that if criminal activity is evident in the report they would be willing to take it further. Based on this, I will now refer the Inquiry Report to Police Scotland."

(LM/MH)