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Operation Branchform, SNP staff, present and former to be re-interviewed by Police Scotland investigating SNP Party finances, this development in the slow moving case is said to be directed by the Crown Office, Scotland’s prosecution service, is this another false dawn for action, or is the storm about to erupt?
When former Nicola Sturgeon was cornered like a rat by the Holyrood press pack, you could see in her demeanor that she extremely uncomfortab...
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On the 31 st July 2023, I did a blog post called ‘political death looms in Rutherglen’, my contention was that the by-election on paper see... -
On the 11 th of June, SNP MSP Nicola Sturgeon was interviewed by police; she was in fact arrested, not interviewed as a witness but arreste...
Well said.
ReplyDeleteI'll give you a few examples of what you are talking about:
1. Shona Robison has always struck me as a particularly vindictive soul. If you weren't one of her approved gang, then you could expect some pretty vicious treatment. I heard that she delivered the austerity budget from Holyrood and then jetted to a 5-star spa-hotel at the foot of Mont Blanc for the holiday. Glasgow's homeless would be far from her thoughts there.
2. I understand the projected outcome cost of the two Ferguson ferries will be around £600m. The projected outcome cost of the failed "bottle return scheme" will be £400m. That's a Billion for absolutely nothing. And the chap says that the homeless in Glasgow have been given nothing?
3. What the fuck has Jackie Baillie been given a Damehood for?
4. What are the opposition parties doing about this and are they really any better?
5. Scotland should be awash with cash and when you add on the cost of the Gupta aluminium smelter, Prestwick Airport and all the rest of it, the £1.5Billion "black-hole" in Scotland's finances has been due entirely to crap governance from ALL at Holyrood.
6. Branchform will report soon. It was reported in the press that Police Scotland have made a recommendation to the COPFS that a certain number of people should be charged (the maximum will be 3) and the COPFS want a lesser number charged. I imagine that Sturgeon has a book to finish writing and so daily appearances at court and the risk of a few years at Cornton Vale would interfere greatly with that endeavor. The Lord Advocate is her personal protector with regard to any criminal charges.
I get the impression that the Secretary of State for Scotland is starting to do his job at last. He has enough to bring-down the SNP and Labour and if the decision was made either to close Holyrood, or remove its tax raising powers, or put it under "special measures" I don't think there would be any great fuss created. We all know it is a failure and it humiliates us internationally.
By the way, the UK Covid Inquiry visits Edinburgh soon and that will show us all how bent we have become in the context of the rest of the UK.
I noticed on today's news that Joanna Cherry is setting about realigning the Lord Advocates role. Humza could do that if he wanted but he is refusing and so she is doing it instead.
DeleteI can't imagine the number being charged being less then 3.
DeleteAccording to the Edinburgh Evening News, the new FM will not be Kate Forbes, it will be Mhairi McAllan. She's another continuity candidate who was a doppelganger of the disreputable Glasgow lawyer Professor Rennie. That news won't do your back any harm but it will crush any lingering hopes you had of a resurgence in Scotland's international reputation for honesty, accountability and brains. Another aggressive, air-head, Glasgow lawyer. I would rather they closed it now.
ReplyDeleteMcAllan doesn't have the gravitas or the air of destiny having about her. Too close to Humza and too close to Sturgeon, tainted by both. And she is piss to boot.
DeleteTony Blair was another lawyer and he filled the Cabinet posts with lawyers. It allowed him to carry-on and do whatever he liked. Sturgeon did the same. When politics gets mixed up with law it degrades both.
ReplyDeleteDear Mr Kerr and Ms Dunbar,
ReplyDeleteI am expecting a call from Mr McAteer tomorrow which will begin the process of getting me paid, getting the 5No individuals and organizations that have assisted me paid and getting me back to work.
As explained trailing, I asked for and received additional guidance from an ASCE's expert over the past few days and he is one of the 5No referred to above that I am expecting to be paid.
These experts are contactable via Linkedin and that's the way the ASCE format has worked over many years. Can I suggest that you ask them for guidance as I have done? It would make a lot more sense than waiting on Scottish Government Ministers, BuroHappold, Scottish Building Standards, the ICE, Harper MacLeod, Ogilvie Construction, Aberdeen City Council, or whoever else it is you are waiting-on. There is nothing unethical about contacting members of the ASCE, they do not see it that way, and they are the biggest professional institution in the world for a reason.
As I explained a few days ago, taking this forward to an outcome is your responsibility now. I therefore attach yet another copy of "Aberdeen School Project Comments and Discussion". Right click on the link and that puts you in direct contact with whichever geotechnical engineer you wish to speak to. There are engineers in every time-zone in the world and my experience has been that there are no delays; the only delays occur here in Scotland and they go-on for years.
In order to summarize the situation for you: I am expecting to be released from this investigation tomorrow (Monday) with a payment and a job and I have named 5No parties that should also be paid for their work. Ensuring the safety of Brimmond School is the responsibility of the Scottish Government under the Education Scotland Act and, specifically, to both of you as the constituency MSP's.
As I stated last week, this may be a UK precedent case in terms of the failure of a building being explained, six-years ago, by experts only for their advice to be continually set-aside by parliamentarians in favor of "visual inspection reports" and "settlement monitoring". Coming as it does so soon after the Oxgangs School Collapse and the Cole Inquiry that followed, I continue to be astounded by that.
When the annual block-grant is issued from Westminster to Edinburgh, the Scottish Government's job is to use that money to sustain Scots in Scotland and to make life better for them. They have no remit to sent any of it overseas. Find-out what Scots need and want and address these issues. Refusing to meet with homeless charities is unforgivable. I very much hope, as you do, that the SNP will be removed from our lives soon. I cannot name a single SNP MSP's (and precious few Labour MSP's) that I would trust.
ReplyDeleteLiz Lloyd was put forward as SNP spokesperson on National radio last week, discussing the way ahead for Humza Yousaf. When Liz Lloyd is the most credible spokesperson the SNP has, and she might be, then you know that the SNP are in trouble.
ReplyDeleteSturgeon's buddy. Liz Lloyd resurfacing shows who is pulling the strings in the SNP. Maybe the plan was Yousaf keeps her seat warm as FM, then steps back. If that was the plan, it is ruined by the Police, the longer out the door, the harder to get back in, plus Forbes would probably stand against Sturgeon. This would queer the pitch even if Sturgeon won.
DeleteThe first thing Sturgeon did as Health Secretary was cut the number of nurse training places, then cut the number of hospital beds reserved for drug-users. Both had an immediate, negative impact and, year on year, more cuts were to follow and nothing can reverse that now. The huge increases in Health spending are going largely on agency staff costs, management costs, bed-blocking costs and all the rest of it. It is a vortex, opened-up by Sturgeon, into which everyone is being sucked. As far as your 663-day wait is concerned, I have mentioned this before but the best method I have seen of funding a Health Service is in the Middle-East where it is around 80% private and employers pay. I worked with a chap who couldn't walk up the stairs one day. He was diagnosed with a blocked artery and was operated on within approximately 5-days. That timescale for a major operation was about the normal and there was always plenty of Doctors and Surgeons, some of them it has to be said were Scottish. If you cannot pay, treatment is free.
ReplyDeleteTommy Shepherd's comedy club The Stand in Edinburgh was handed £250k in Covid relief money. Is the continuation of The Stand seen as more important to more Scots than the continuation of Homeless Project Scotland? Also, I notice the founders of HPS were given an award at Downing Street by Boris of all people. Nothing like that ever happens at Bute House. It's as if they have no interest in us and we have no interest in them.
ReplyDeleteIt is a Pyrric victory for two reasons: The SNP have had long enough to ruin Scotland and that is what they have done. Also, it sets the seeds for the return of Labour and it is their corruption that brought about the SNP in the first place.
ReplyDeleteDear Natalie,
ReplyDeleteI am waiting for a call from Mr McAteer. If I'm not at home when he calls, an Email will do but I clearly want to get this settled now and back to work.
My strategy is to ask Alister Jack for his assistance and I will do that tomorrow. He is in charge of the Devolution Settlement and if it is not working in the public interest, then he intervenes? Specifically I am going to ask him to ask Buro Happold if Police Scotland's request for a design check has been answered and, if it has, I am going to ask him to instruct that Aberdeen City Council/Hub make it publicly available.
If I am correct, and it seems certain that I am, then that opens the door to criminal charges being brought against Scottish Building Standards and the Council and the corollary of that is the allegation of Misfeasance in Public Office against Baillie, Sarwar and Moore.
The school may not have to be closed, or demolished and build again from new and you will notice that no-one from the ASCE recommended that, but it most definitely needs to be fixed and all were agreed on that. However, several were pessimistic and considered that it was too complex a problem to fix. I expect that is where Buro Happold's opinion will lie and that, along with no insurance, is the problem.
However, Mr McAteer's only concern is getting everyone paid and back to work.
I am copying this to Universal Credit to keep them informed.
Dear Mr Jack,
ReplyDeleteI am writing to you in your capacity as Secretary of State for Scotland as you are in charge of the Devolution Settlement and, if it is seen not to be working in the public interest, then you should be made aware of that.
The circumstances are that I was terminated from my job as Project Manager for Brimmond School in Aberdeen in August 2014 for claiming that the new school building for client Hub/Aberdeen City Council, which was at that time in the very early stages of construction, would flood with groundwater and sink when complete. That may appear to be a far-fetched story and one may think that it was never likely to come true, but it has come true and the building and the land surrounding it is sinking each winter due to the processes of water inundation, soil collapse and subsidence. Soon, the building itself will start to deform. It is inevitable. Is that dangerous? Yes it is.
A mistake was made during construction and the design was changed by the temporary team that were in place and were carrying out the work at the time. I had the design change checked by experts from the American Society of Civil Engineers two years later in 2017, such was my concern that a deformation was inevitable, and their opinions are attached with this Email. It was a subtle design change that was not considered detrimental at the time, but it has gone-on to undermine the building to the extent that it may not be possible to fix it now. The way you read these expert opinions, or the way that I tend to read them anyway, is to concentrate on those at the end because these engineers have read all the discussion that have gone before, considered it carefully before contributing their own opinion at the end. This information indicates that it may be possible to save the school, but it may not. It is certainly a complex problem and this group of international experts were all agreed upon that.
If it can be saved, and a method was suggested for doing that, then the cost may be a high six-figure sum, but if it cannot be saved and the school has to be replaced with a new building on a new site, then the cost will obviously be far in excess of that. Insurance will not accept liability because the Scottish Government has checked and accepted the design change and the letters attached by the Scottish Government's Jonathan Moore explain that position. These letters effectively void the Contractor's Professional Indemnity Insurance and they make the Scottish Government liable for the safety of the school and the cost of fixing, or replacing the school. These fundamentally stupid letters could end-up costing the taxpayer upwards of £30m, I tried to warn him at the time but he wouldn't listen and, in that context, I wonder how Mr Moore has managed to retain his job? So, what do we do now?
I reported Scottish Building Standards to Police Scotland for the crime of "Reckless Certification" on 3/9/23 and they investigated and their recommendation of 11/9/23 is trailing and it accords very much with the ASCE advice and with my advice. The independent design check that Police Scotland recommend can only be carried-out, contractually and to accord with Building Standards Scotland rules, by a Buro Happold design team that were not involved in the original design. So, why are Buro Happold not providing this, 4-months after Police Scotland requested it? Or, have they done it and sent it to their client Hub/Aberdeen City Council and it is their client that is withholding it? Either way, I think that we (or you) ought to get to the bottom of this and get the requisite checks issued very, very quickly. There is no doubt that the school has been certified as safe since 2015 by Scottish Building Standards and that is despite the obvious flooding and sinking of the land and despite the opinions of the ASCE experts. Does that amount to "Reckless Certification"? That will be for Police Scotland to ascertain, but it certainly appears possible.
ReplyDeleteFurthermore, I recently reported Ms Baillie, Mr Sarwar and Mr Moore to the SPSO for "Misfeasance in Public Office" and that essentially means that they have worked within the law to ensure an unsatisfactory outcome for the public. It will be early March before the SPSO even begin investigating this case, such is their backlog of case work, but I considered that it was important to put a marker down that the Scottish Government exists to prevent waste and to protect the public interest and if a case like this one is kicked around in no-man's land for this length of time then the Parliament is not working and should be investigated. I have no personal like or dislike for those involved, but their lack of honesty and accountability has brought with it damaging consequences for all of us, not only for myself, and so it is important that they are investigated and held to account either by the SPSO, Police Scotland or at a Public Inquiry.
We are therefore all waiting to hear Buro Happold's opinion and we have been waiting on that for more than 9-years. Now that yourself and Police Scotland are copied into the request, there is perhaps an improved chance that it will be handed over this time. As I alluded to earlier, I presume that Buro Happold are no more optimistic than I am and I am no more optimistic than the ASCE were in 2017. Will that be a problem? Yes, it will. What will the public reaction to that be? Entirely negative I would expect.
Finally, I am a professional engineer who has been blacklisted by, it would seem, a delinquent contractor. Should it not be the management team of the delinquent contractor who lose their livelihood? If the blacklisting goes-on for a few months then most of us can live with that, but when it goes-on for nine and a half years? I wish to return to work and the financial drain of the past years means that I must go back. I am being assisted by Mr McAteer who is one of the most respected figures in Scottish law, but he can do nothing without the assistance of my constituency MSP and she is appears determined to do nothing and so stasis exists, month after month and year after year.
ReplyDeleteAs I indicate above, it was a construction mistake. Every engineer has an ethical and a legal duty to identify a mistake at the time, as I tried to do and insurance will cover the cost of fixing it. However, once you allow Jonathan Moore and all of those reported to Police Scotland and the SPSO to cover that mistake up, insurance will walk away and the cost of rectification, if rectification is even possible now, will multiply many, many times and the ASCE explained that to us in 2017. It is analogous to Watergate in that the initial crime was not unforgivable, it is the cover-up that will seen, in the eyes of the public anyway, as being unforgivable.
Can I leave it to Mr McAteer's secretary Natalie to contact me? She was supposed to contact me today and she didn't do that and so can she contact me tomorrow please?
I copy this as usual to Universal Credit who have been assisting me since May last year. Everything is answered quickly and professionally and if only the Scottish Government could match these standards, we would all be a lot better off for it. I nevertheless want my dependence on Universal Credit to be ended as quickly as possible and they are aware of that.
George - I don't know if you watched Mr Bates v's The Post Office, but that has created the sort of negative public reaction I refer to above. The UK Government has delegated Alex Chalk and Mel Stride to get it sorted out and they are meeting with senior lawyers and are progressing "by the hour". So, a solution, and that may be a pardon or something like that, will be issued to all Post Office workers affected within days, rather than weeks or months. How long do you think it would take these Holyrood political gob-shites that we are talking about here to do anything as useful as that? So, the "People's Parliament" is actually Westminster. Send your complaint to Westminster and something might get done. Send your complaint to Baillie and Sarwar? I don't think so.
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen the show, but heard of the case, if this wasn't an election, would action be moving so fast?
DeleteDear Natalie,
DeleteI am still waiting on a call. Can you schedule a meeting on Friday between myself and Mr McAteer please?
I was reading in this morning's news that the Post Office workers incorrectly prosecuted due to their reliance upon Post Office accounting software will be pardoned by Friday and so, with some joined-up effort by the others, this too can be sorted-out by Friday. The question is: will Brimmond School be the next cover-up to be exposed?
I have a great deal of experience in this field of engineering and this is the way these matters are finalized. Set a date, provide an agenda (which I have done) and accept that this is the "final outcome meeting" and so my involvement ends on Friday.
I have no problems in dealing with Mr McAteer and it is only an outcome, including a return to work, that I want and he knows that.
A small number of resourceful and communicative individuals and professional organizations have assisted me in reaching this outcome. I have identified them to you and I am insisting that they are paid for their work directly, and not via myself.
Can I suggest that payment comes from some combination of the Scottish Government, Ogilvie Construction and Harper MacLeod. I suspect it is obvious to everyone that they share responsibility for this mess?
My wife is undergoing cancer treatment at the Beatson. Like you, she reports no problems with the treatment. She went to see McMillan the cancer charity who have an office at the Beatson and told them she was feeling tired all the time and they have organized a blue badge for her car so that she can park anywhere. These are the type of things that charities do and which mean a hell of a lot to people. At the same time, I have been dealing with one of the Scottish parliaments oldest serving MSP's and, believe me, she is feckin useless and will do nothing for anyone.
ReplyDeleteHope she gets well soon.
DeleteMcMillan have the same quality in them that you see in Jim Murphy and that is that some people get more out of helping other people than they do out of helping themselves.
DeleteDear Mr Jack,
ReplyDeleteIt is inevitable that this building will require either major civil-engineering works to stabilize the foundations, or it will require to be rebuilt from new, on another site. The experts that looked in to it told us that more than 6-years ago and so it is perhaps time that someone took the lead and started communicating with all of the parties that are involved before an accident occurs. I am addressing this to you as all of the others appear to be in some kind of dwam and don't know what to do.
I have been told over the years by my MSP: "Everyone that needs to know about this does know and no-one agrees with you". Exactly the same statement was made to Mr Bates in "Mr Bates vs the Post Office" and I have understood for many years, as Mr Bates no doubt did, that it was untrue. The corollaries are the same, aren't they; one is a disaster for the UK government and this is a disaster for the Scottish government.
Undernoted is the list of named people that have allowed and contributed to the concealment of urgent safety information from the public. The most senior authority is No 67, Mr Peter Reekie, who is a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (FICE). My MSP was referring to Mr Reekie and so can I suggest that he is instructed along with No 24, Dr Mark Stewart and given the job of bringing this to an outcome, otherwise the stasis will persist and that is incredibly dangerous.
The Brimmond School case was examined extensively by Angeline Robertson of Hub and Charlie Penman of Aberdeen City Council in March 2018. Dr Stewart, who is an expert geotechnical engineer, advised on engineering matters and he is presently a lecturer in geotechnical engineering at Aberdeen University. He is therefore the authoritative, expert engineer who can resolve this for you.
If Mr Reekie and Dr Stewart conclude that I have been correct since 2014, then I will be expecting a full vindication from the Scottish government and all of my costs repaid to me and from the public perspective, the input of Mr Reekie and Dr Stewart will give Police Scotland the "independent design check" they requested on 11/9/23 and which still appears to be pending (?). If Buro Happold are not assisting with that, then Mr Reekie and Dr Stewart and can resolve and explain this for constituency MSP's Mr Kerr and Ms Dunbar very quickly; almost instantly in fact.
Finally, I include Ms Taylor of the SPSO in the circulation to update her on the progress of this investigation. I reported Ms Baillie, Mr Sarwar and Mr Moore to the SPSO for "Misfeasance in Public Office" and I remain satisfied that they are the root cause of my financial losses. My losses will be far less than the cost of repairing or replacing Brimmond School and for that you will be looking for someone in which to apportion responsibility and, for reasons I have explained many times, that is usually the engineer "with authority" who has allowed the impression to be given that the building is safe. From the evidence that I have seen, I would suggest that Mr Reekie would be on the list of possible candidates, but that is something for you to investigate either yourself, or at a Public Inquiry. What I can say though is that I will not be reporting anyone else to the SPSO.
The list of names is as follows:
ReplyDeleteThe Scottish Government
1. Nicola Sturgeon
2. John Swinney
3. Shirley Ann Somerville
4. Shona Robison
5. Kevin Stewart
6. Jackie Baillie
7. Anas Sarwar
8. Liam Kerr
9. Jackie Dunbar
10. Jonathan Moore
11. Bill Dodds
12. Stephen Garvin
13. Scott Johnson
Aberdeen City Council
14. Jenny Laing
15. Euan Couperwhite
16. Gayle Gorman
17. Rob Polkinghorne
18. Angela Scott
19. George Spence
20. Charlie Penman
21. Helen Shanks
Advisors to Aberdeen City Council
22. Gordon Wilkinson
23. Alan Armstrong
24. Mark Stewart
Ogilvie Construction
25. Donald MacDonald
26. Bob Innes
27. Gary Willis
28. David Mason
29. Colin Mercer
30. Brian McGuiness
31. David Berry
32. Mark McPherson
33. Nick Horn
34. Ryan Green
35. David Arundal
Advisors to Ogilvie Construction
36. Abdulrauf Bello
37. Gavin Currie
38. Sandy McIvor
39. Andy Tunaley
40. Kirsty Kirke
41. Ian Taggart
42. Andrew Proctor
43. Bob Gray
44. Andy Park
45. Andy Day
46. Paul Neil
47. George Mackie
48. David Muta
49. Phil McEwan
Harper MacLeod
50. Bruce Caldow
51. Professor Robert Rennie
52. Professor Lorne Crerar
53. Elizabeth Mitchell
54. James Lloyd
55. Jennifer Jack
56. Sascha Cochrane
57. Amy Walsh
58. Graham Horseman
59. Scott Kerr
60. Tom Gray
61. E Ming Fong
Buro Happold
62. May Winfield
63. Hugh Mallett
64. Ian Stewart
Hub
ReplyDelete65. Fraser Innes
66. Angeline Robertson
Scottish Futures Trust
67. Peter Reekie
The Law Society of Scotland
Recommendation: "We are too busy to look at this"
The Scottish Legal Complaints Commission
Recommendation: "The legal advice provided to you by Harper MacLeod was adequate"
The question is: "Where else in the world would this number of people each retain their jobs, some have been promoted, some retired, Jackie Baillie has been given a Damehood, whilst the whistle-blower has been ignored". Is this what the "peoples parliament" has turned in to? There are several possible avenues for the Press to explore and this is the one that springs-out at me just now. But there are no doubt many others.
Dear Natalie,
I am requesting that the others who have assisted me are paid, I am paid and I get back to work. You know all of this of course and I have repeated it countless times in the recent past. Someone in authority will (hopefully) instruct Mr Reekie and Dr Stewart and they will re-affirm my professional credibility as an engineer. I have suffered many years of needless unemployment and that has had the most degrading effect and I should not have been left to prove that this number of Scotland's most senior public servants are wrong. The public will be appalled by this and will wish to know why we are continuing to employ and pay all of these people. Peter Reekie has been promoted and everyone appears to be reticent, for whatever reason, to criticize him or anything that he says, or does.
The key is the series of meetings which took place in March 2018. Several engineering experts attended these meetings, for example Rod Manson from Buro Happold and Gillian Wright from Arup. I have the full list of names, as does Mr McAteer. If that series of meetings concluded that the building was non-compliant and it has nevertheless continued to be used in the intervening years and their recommendations have been supplanted by "visual inspection reports" and "settlement monitoring", then, as I understand it, it becomes a criminal law situation and,.as I said in the opening paragraph, there is usually only one way for that to conclude.
The information above is presented to 4No MSP's, the Secretary of State for Scotland and Police Scotland and it is their job to investigate and communicate with each other and resolve it to an outcome. So, I ask again only for a date for my closing meeting? This continuing week after week refusal to respond is not acceptable. I have no problems with Mr McAteer, but this stand-off is only piling-up misery for me, and my wife. You are aware of that and so paying lip-service to it is no use to me.
Anyone reading this Email can understand the cause of the problem and that allows a solution to be found. I have achieved this much and I have handed over to the others. I am asking Mr McAteer to extend me the same courtesy of effort until a solution is reached as I am clearly the innocent party here and I think that we can all agree upon that?
Can you ask him to call me this weekend, please.
George - One of the expert ASCE engineers was Raghu Prakash A and I spoke to him yesterday for the first time in years. He gave me access to all of the other expert engineers and so without him the cover-up would have continued. I am currently trying to get him paid for his work, as I am you and a few others. If you look at his Linkedin page you will see under "Articles by Raghu Prakash": "Aberdeen School Project Comments and Discussions". I told him yesterday that everyone from the President of the ICE to the Secretary of State for Scotland has read it and it has silenced all of them. That usually means that it is very, very good. Take a look at it when you have time.
ReplyDeletehttps://in.linkedin.com/in/raghu-prakash-a-21353514
ReplyDeleteDear Natalie,
ReplyDeleteThere are five others who ought to be paid for their work and you have the contact details of four of them. The fifth is Engineer Prakash and I copy him into this Email so that you have his contact details too. Neither of them is looking for credit for their work, but they must be paid.
Engineer Prakash is only mentioned once in the ASCE comments, but he compiled the document and to get access to that number of ASCE experts, you need to be an ASCE expert yourself and he is and it is the strength of this evidence that opened the door to this case being solved.
Raghu,
ReplyDeleteYou will have noticed an increased number of people viewing your Linkedin page today. They are looking at "Aberdeen School Project Comments and Discussion" which many of them have never seen before and I expect most of them will be astounded when they read it.
What I have told everyone is that the photographs, the soil and design data, description of the problem were by myself and the ASCE experts and your involvement was to compile it into a document to be presented to the experts. You then got my comments, inserted them alongside the experts' comments and produced the finished document and handed it over to me.
Although it was the highest quality engineering, far better than anything you can get here, you have never been paid for your work and the ASCE have never been paid either and that is the situation that I am in the process of rectifying now.
I am copying this to Ms McLauchlin because without her, none of us will be paid.
There is the possibility that the Press will be involved. I don't think they will speak to you or the ASCE but if they do, I suggest you just reiterate what I set-out above. If I recall correctly, you weren't even sure where Aberdeen was at the time?
The Police are involved and there are a number of people worried that the negative public reaction will sweep them away. We, on the other hand, just want to be paid and move-on with our lives. I am expecting that the two of us, the ASCE and a small number of people and organizations that assisted in this country, will come-out of this looking very good.
Let me know if you have any questions, but essentially what I am suggesting is that you do nothing and wait for me to get back to you on this.
Dear Natalie,
ReplyDeleteWhat surprises me just now is that Engineer Prakash has been displaying "Aberdeen School Project Comments and Discussions" on his Linkedin page since September 2017 so that anyone in the world can read it. That's engineering I suppose. But, in Scotland, Jackie Baillie and all the rest of them think it should be kept secret and shouldn't be investigated. That's "misfeasance" isn't it? You get a Damehood for that?
Is my meeting with Mr McAteer this Friday? Let me know please?
Dear Mr Jack,
ReplyDeleteMatters appear to be progressing quickly now and so permit me to update you on where we currently stand:
1. One of the ASCE experts that assisted me in 2017 was Engineer Prakash and I was working with him at the time in KSA. The ASCE use Linkedin to enable their service to be used by members worldwide and Engineer Prakash's Linkedin page is: https://in.linkedin.com/in/raghu-prakash-a-21353514
As you can see under "Articles by Raghu Prakash", he has published "Aberdeen School Project Comments and Discussion". He didn't publish it this week or this month, it was first published in September 2017 and it has been published, continuously, since then.
All of those copied into this Email have been sent "Aberdeen School Project Comments and Discussion" and it appears to me that all of those on the "list of names" have agreed, between themselves, to cover it up. It has been set aside and "Visual Inspection Reports" and "Settlement Monitoring has been used to justify the safety of the building instead. I am sure I am not alone in thinking that this is probably a lot more than "Misfeasance in Public Office" by a few individuals.
2. I have requested that my final outcome meeting with Mr McAteer goes ahead tomorrow (Friday) and I presume that no-one has any objections to that? Not only should I be properly paid and returned to work, but Engineer Prakash, the ASCE, Protect and two private individuals that have assisted to me over the years should be properly paid for their contribution because, without all of them, this case would never have been solved.
Finally, a member of the Press called me yesterday and I am copying this Email to him. At this stage, I have no idea whether this will appear in the Press again or not, but I would suggest that everyone copied-in should be taking this matter very, very seriously at the moment.
All that I am waiting for is a call from Ms McLaughlin.
George - Raghu's the chap I was telling you about; he's from Kerala which is in the south-east of India. It is a monsoon area and so for 2 or so months every year they walk around with their trousers rolled-up and wearing flip-flops because everywhere is flooded with surface water and groundwater, just like Brimmond School. He has an MSc and is considered an expert in this subject. Is the combined total of the "list of names", approximately 70No souls, anywhere close to being on the same level in terms of qualifications, experience, ethics and honesty as Raghu? They are 70No liars, aren't they?
ReplyDeleteHard to ignore such experience and weight, from someone recognised as an expert in their field
DeleteI know Engineer Raghu and we can trust him. You know some of the "list of names". Would you trust any of them?
DeleteDear Natalie,
ReplyDeleteLet Mr McAteer know that I will call him at 1.00pm. I would like to bring this farce to an end, at least from my perspective, today. Waiting for Mr McAteer has been like "Waiting for Godot".
Engineer Prakash no doubt as to the veracity of "Aberdeen School Project Comments and Discussion" and nor do I. Does anyone? Can I suggest that you all start using this and dispense with the "Visual Inspection Reports" that all of you appear so fixated by? They are obvious nonsense and they will end up getting innocent people killed. I attach another copy of "Aberdeen School Project and Discussion" with this Email. This is the full version, complete with all of the comments and unlike last week's "list of names", the engineers commenting here are real experts, discussing the subject they specialize in and earn a living from. They are therefore relaxed about being identified and, working under the ethical rules of the ASCE, they have whatever legal protection they require.
I would like to leave everything, including Police Scotland and the SPSO, to Mr Kerr and Ms Dunbar. They are getting paid to do this and so let them do their job.
Mr McAteer is usually in the office on a Friday?
Dear Mr Kerr and Ms Dunbar,
ReplyDeleteDr Stephen Thomas is the UK's foremost expert on groundwater and who contributed to "Aberdeen School Project Comments and Discussion" (responses 14 and 17) and he may be prepared to offer his guidance on Brimmond School to parliamentarians Mr Kerr and Ms Dunbar. Dr Thomas is an FICE and he is a respected figure within the engineering profession and I feel certain that the ICE and Buro Happold would accept his guidance.
Photograph 1 shows groundwater and the effect it is having on the land is evident. Photograph 2 shows surface water. Photograph 3 shows upwelling groundwater and the Brimmond Soil Investigation Report is also attached. Can I suggest you ask Dr Thomas for his guidance on this information, please? He has seen the photographs before of course, but he hasn't seen these originals. You may contact him via the link on "Aberdeen School Project Comments and Discussion".
It would be far better for parliamentarians to ask him first, rather than the Press?
Dear Natalie,
I have waited-in all afternoon for Mr McAteer to call. He hasn't called and that is most disappointing. Let me know when he intends returning my call, please? I have not earned a regular income for almost 10-years because of this case and it is obvious to me that I have been right all-along. Hence, I require legal advice to ensure my losses are fully recovered. I require that advice urgently, please.
Can you ask him to call me at the weekend. I left my number with your receptionist.
.....and what should happen to the "List of Names" now? Will the "force-field" continue to protect them? Two have been reported to Police Scotland and three to the SPSO, but what should happen to the others and should any member of the public have to carry-out an investigation as complex as this one on their own? Raghu Prakash works close to the Saudi government and I was circumspect about the Press contacting him. Dr Thomas is different though. He is the archetypal establishment figure and what he says matters. The Press can contact him if they wish and he will handle it comfortably.
ReplyDeleteDear Mr Kerr and Ms Dunbar,
ReplyDeleteI received the following Email from Engineer Raghu Prakash yesterday. For the reasons explained by Engineer Prakash himself, I have handed-over his contact details, earlier today, to Police Scotland, Protect and Beltrami. Otherwise, his contact details should be kept confidential.
He belongs to the tradition of engineers who, when asked to help solve a problem, will respond in a measured, organized and pragmatic way, in their own private time, and that is what he has done. It is a tradition that has always been supported by the ASCE because it is the environment which encourages honesty in engineering and you can detect that in his Email.
It is clear to me that he and his colleagues at the ASCE are due recognition for what they managed to achieve within a short 6-week window in 2017? It was a remarkable effort which was let down only by the named employees mainly of the Scottish government, but also of the civil-service and their private sector contractors and consultants and I can only say that it has been like dealing with some kind of publicly funded organized crime syndicate. His Email is as follows:
"Hello Steve,
Indeed, I remember this gentleman. I could not believe that the problem has gotten even bigger and hasn't been solved and it has gone to the press. Thanks for referring the press to him instead of to me.
I am glad to know that you are nearing the end of this. Thanks for keeping me posted.
Please share your number so I can keep in touch with you.
Best Regards
Raghu"
In my Email sent on Friday, I recommended that Mr Kerr and Ms Dunbar make contact with the UK's foremost groundwater expert, Dr Stephen Thomas. His opinion carries more weight than anything else you will be provided with, probably worldwide, and I would recommend you just take my advice on that. Engineer Prakash refers Dr Thomas above and he responded in Aberdeen School Project Comments and Discussion on 2/10/17 as follows:
"Response 17 Eur Ing Dr Stephen Thomas MBA FICE CEng:
It always amazes me that so many Groundwater problems are not identified and mitigated against during the initial design & construction stage, especially when most saturated soil is around 30% water by volume."
Read it carefully because it is a repetition of what I have been saying to you all, isn't it? Ever since 2014.
You will notice that Dr Thomas refers to the flooding as a "Groundwater" problem and it sounds as if he is certain about that. The Scottish Government, on the other hand, have strenuously denied that it is a groundwater problem and the minutes of the Scottish government meeting of 17/8/16 are trailing. Item 9 refers to this disagreement and this is the crux of the dispute.
The reason why the distinction between "surface water" and "groundwater" is so crucial is because errors in surface water design rarely lead to instability whereas errors in groundwater design almost always do and the following explains the cause of the 24/6/21 Surfside Apartment Collapse in Miami, Florida. This is the effect that Dr Thomas is (perhaps) alluding to, but you will only know that by asking him and letting your constituents know what he says:
Miami’s Surfside Condo Was Flawed and Failing. Here’s a Look Inside. - The New York Times (nytimes.com)
Either I am correct, or the "list of named people" are correct, but if Dr Thomas agrees with me, then that is that matters and the disagreement can be settled here and now and so I am asking both of you to do your job. Either the Scottish parliament works, or it is a roadblock which prevents anything which is embarrassing to political parties from being aired in public and I go-on to talk about that in the following paragraph.
ReplyDeleteEngineer Prakash makes the point in his Email: "Why has this taken so long to resolve?" and there is no doubt that Dr Thomas will say exactly the same thing. Any engineer will ask this question and that is inevitable. Everyone understands the effort that I have put into this case over the past nearly 10-years and so why hasn't it worked? Ms Baillie, Mr Sarwar and Mr Moore have been reported to the SPSO because their response, since 2016, has been: "Everyone that needs to know about this does know and no-one agrees with you". That is the only reason they have ever provided and it sounds very much like an abuse of the "peoples parliament" to me. Will they repeat that to Dr Thomas, I wonder?
I therefore propose to leave this investigation either for yourselves to take forward from here, for a Public Inquiry to take forward, or to be kicked into the Scottish parliament long-grass as it is of little interest to me what you all elect to do. It is of immense public interest of course and immense constituency interest too, but I have had enough and my wife has had enough and so this is completely over for me.
Mr McAteer obviously requires assistance from within the Scottish Government and Ms Baillie has refused to provide that and Mr Sarwar has refused the assistance of anyone else under his leadership. I require a respected MSP who is not implicated in the "list of names" to provide this assistance. Politically, I am entirely neutral on this and for me it is whatever works and so can I suggest Mr Cole-Hamilton provides whatever Scottish parliament assistance is required? I understand of course that this would be an unprecedented step, but the public very clearly comes first in this extraordinary situation.
Dr Thomas will answer straight away and if he says: "Yes, that is indeed groundwater" then the public expectation will be that some of the "list of names" will be clearing their desks in the morning? You already have the photographs and the Soil Investigation Report and that is essentially all that he will need. If additional photographs and statements are provided by the teachers, parents or anyone else, then send them on to Dr Thomas please and let him adjudicate. At least a collapse hasn't occurred and so, in that respect, you have been fortunate.
Finally, you will notice that Engineer Prakash responds to me within 24-hours and that is normal. Dr Thomas, as I have said, will be exactly the same. You are moving from the Scottish parliament response time which is measured in years, to the professional engineering response time which is measured in hours and so get yourselves used to it please because that will not change.
Dear Natalie,
Please contact me on Monday about this. I was waiting for Mr McAteer to call on Friday afternoon and he didn't call, his receptionist didn't call either and that is not acceptable. I want this to be finished now and so too does everyone else. I am asking for Engineer Prakash, Protect, the ASCE and two others to be properly paid and there should be no-one else ripped-off as I have been ripped-off. Sadly, the Scottish legal profession appears to be in a terrible state just now.
I am copying this Email to Engineer Prakash for his continuing information.
George - The analogy with "Mr Bates vs the Post Office" is a good one. You are dealing with gangsters. I gave them all an example of how a world government thinks and acts when presented with a case like this. Trust me, the peoples parliament is no good. Mr Kerr is a lawyer and a constituency MSP for the area. In my opinion, he and Alex Cole-Hamilton are as good as you will get and so let's see what they manage? Simple honesty as you see from Engineer Prakash cuts through all of the peoples parliament shit, doesn't it. Instantly. The pretense vanishes after reading a few lines from him. I don't know Stephen Thomas but I have to say it now looks remarkably grim for Baillie, Sarwar, Moore, Garvin, Spence and all of the others. It reminds me of the story of the emperor's new clothes and instead of a child stating the obvious, it has been Raghu. The problem is there are another 40-odd engineers who will say exactly the same as he has said.
ReplyDeleteDear Mr Kerr and Ms Dunbar,
ReplyDeleteI attach 3No photographs with this Email. The question for Dr Thomas is: "Do these photographs show groundwater, or surface water?" If he confirms they show groundwater, then you will require to know if the school is safe to remain open and if it can be fixed. These are the hard questions that now need to be answered and if you have not already asked these questions of Dr Thomas, then ask them now please.
I attach 2No letters from the Scottish government's Jonathan Moore which transfer all liabilities for safety and cost from the construction consortium to the Scottish government. The subsequent 6-year refusal to communicate will now be seen, by the public, as a cover-up. I have alerted the Press but, again, it is for you to pursue from here in whichever way you elect to do so.
As I explained on Sunday, Dr Thomas is, I believe, the UK's foremost authority on this subject and so he must be approached by the Scottish parliament. Both myself and Engineer Prakash approached him in 2017 and you all know the question that was asked then and what he said in response but this time, you must do it. So, all actions are currently with you both.
This may be the biggest scandal in the 25-year history of the Scottish parliament, or it may be nothing at-all. It will be either one, or the other.
Dear Natalie,
The 17/8/16 Scottish government meeting (minutes attached and trailing) was attended by Mr McAteer and he has seen the photographs and the letters attached many, many times. Everyone is waiting on guidance from Dr Thomas and, when that is received, my outcome can be finalized.
I seem to have had to dot every i and cross every t and that is incredibly disappointing and God knows the rancid tentacles of the Scottish government appear to have reached every facet of Scottish life nowadays and stopped it from working and, sadly, that includes the professions.
I asked you to call me on Friday to update me and you didn't do that. I asked again yesterday and again you failed to respond. I am therefore asking you to call me today, please.
As on Sunday, I am copying this to Engineer Prakash to show that I am committed to getting him, his Professional Institution, and the others, paid for their professional work and I want everyone to be paid by the end of this week.
George - I notice that Ms Baillie issued a warning to all at the Scottish government yesterday that the deletion of WhatsApp messages may be unlawful. She does "irony" and "hypocrisy" extraordinarily well doesn't she? Did she get her Damehood for it? It wasn't for standing up for her constituents and that's for sure.
ReplyDeleteDear Mr Kerr and Ms Dunbar,
ReplyDeleteIf anyone is looking for additional photographs of Brimmond School either to send off to Dr Thomas, or for use by the Press, then either today or tomorrow would be an ideal opportunity to get that job done.
There are two distinct problems with the Brimmond "as-built" design: the first is the water table is too high and the second is that all of the artesian routes entering the site from the west, and which flow west to east, have been blocked down to a depth of 5m.
Both are leading to water inundation, that leads to soil collapse and that leads to subsidence. Now is your opportunity to witness what that does to land affected by it. It is called a "hydraulic failure" and that leads inevitably to a "structural failure".
If the photographs are taken when it isn't actually raining, then they will be more effective as they will confirm that what you have in front of you is "groundwater" and not "surface water".
Don't expect to see cracks in the building at this point. What I have been warning of is a sudden subsidence and there may be no prior warning of that.
Dr Thomas can explain this to you more authoritatively than I or probably anyone else can. The decision on what to do with his advice then rests on your shoulders and both of you ought to be leading investigation this from now-on.
Dear Natalie,
I received an Email from Mr McAteer earlier which said nothing. I want this finished by the end of the week and everyone paid. The meeting can either be with Mr McAteer, or Harper MacLeod. I would rather it be with Mr McAteer but at the stage we are at now, I really do not care; as long as the meeting takes place.
Let me know what Mr McAteer wants to do please?
Dear Mr Kerr and Ms Dunbar,
ReplyDeleteNo doubt attention will be turning, if it hasn't turned already, to who pays for this.
Perhaps some of the others can say at this point: "not me" but, as constituency MSP's, you cannot do that.
I attach trailing my initial whistle-blowing complaint to Harper MacLeod, which was made on 13/9/14, and from it you will notice that my explanation of the problem is exactly the same then, as it is now. It hasn't changed at-all and the question that is now being asked is: why I am unemployed, while none of the other seventy or so names on the "list of names" are unemployed? That should definitely not be the case, should it?
I am copying this to Universal Credit because being unemployed for a few months may be expected in a case like this one, but being unemployed for the best part of 10-years reflects upon the functionality, or lack thereof, of the Scottish parliament and whether that lack of functionality verges on criminality, or misfeasance, is currently a matter for Police Scotland and the SPSO. I have made this point multiple times to Ms Baillie in the past and, for whatever reason, she failed to grasp the concept and so I am trying again - for a final time.
Harper MacLeod's reply was issued on 18/5/15, which was long after construction of the foundations was finished, and it shows that they didn't carry-out any checks to ascertain whether or not my concerns were correct, as I asked them to, they just asked the contractor. I wouldn't expect the contractor to say: "these foundations will certainly sink; no doubt about it", would you expect the contractor to say that?
The initiative duly failed due to lack of effort, or negligence if you like, by Harper MacLeod.
I complained to the SLCC ombudsman about this of course, but I found that Harper MacLeod are employed by, and are therefore part of the SLCC and that makes any complaint made against them unlikely to succeed. I really wonder if this is in keeping with the ethics of the legal profession in Scotland? I will leave that question for you to pursue, if you wish.
I then complained to the Law Society of Scotland who told me they "didn't have the time" to investigate this case. Again, I will leave that for you.
So, as I have said several times before, whether the school can be fixed and what that entails in terms of design and construction are matters for the designer Buro Happold and if they are refusing, then Dr Thomas can provide authoritative guidance that will be acceptable to all. I can identify Dr Thomas and say to you: "This engineer can help", but it is for you to contact him, ask him the right questions and to do everything else and you know that.
What appears to be beyond doubt, from the evidence that I have seen, is that the Scottish Government will be liable to pay for fixing the school, if it can be fixed, and Jonathan Moore's letters and meeting minutes is what makes me say that. He is very clear in saying that he has checked everything thoroughly and accepts it. I don't believe that he was right to do that and I have said that multiple times over the years, but he had the authority to do it, he did it and now everyone has to live with the consequences of that.
ReplyDeleteWho pays for my settlement and funds payment of the others that have assisted and provides me with another job? That is the vexed question and, judging from Mr McAteer's response yesterday, he cannot answer to it and so permit me to make my suggestion:
I understand that Mr Kerr is a lawyer(?) and so if he reviews my Email to Mr Caldow and Mr Caldow's reply, both trailing below, then Mr Caldow has been the root-cause certainly of my losses, but arguably of everyone's losses, including the Scottish government's losses.
My suggestion is that the Scottish government pay for repairing the school (if it can be repaired) and I say that because there appears to be no alternative open to you now, and Harper MacLeod pay for my losses, pay those that have assisted me and find me a replacement job.
The "lesson learned" from this tragedy is that when a mistake is pointed out, get it investigated professionally. It is a terrible idea to immediately erect some kind of "force field" to hide the mistake because all that you are doing is protecting an errant contractor and that opens-up a vortex into which all of those in the "list of names" have now been drawn and you see a great example of that here. That is the way I view this and it is doubtless the way the public will view it too.
I know that I have recommended a Public Inquiry several times now and the duty of government is not to do what you want, but to reflect what the public wants and there could well be calls, from the public, for such an Inquiry but that is for all of you to think about and decide. Turkeys don't vote for Christmas and so this matter is copied to the Secretary of State for Scotland for his consideration.
Dear Natalie,
I received Mr McAteer's response yesterday and I am at a loss to understand what he meant by it. All I require is a time for the meeting - that is all. I set-out above how Harper MacLeod's negligent handling of this case set the seeds for future tragedy and so there should be no correlation between Mr McAteer's handling of this case and Harper MacLeod's handling of the case. The meeting can either be with Mr McAteer, or Harper MacLeod and I will leave that decision for you. The outcome of the meeting will be confidential, but notice that the meeting is due to take place should be provided to everyone. I do not expect you to inform the others and so I will do that and I will do it instantly and so respond to me now, please. My expectation is that the meeting will take place on Friday 26/1/24. Mr McAteer has had plenty of notice, many months of notice in fact, and I will be expecting the 3No items on the agenda to be finalized at the meeting. What remains, can be led by Mr Kerr and Ms Dunbar as this is their responsibility now.
Dear Correspondence Manager,
ReplyDeleteThank-you for your response received earlier today. I have not copied it to the others, but permit me to explain what I see as your role in this:
Police Scotland recommended that a design review be sought from an independent engineering expert and that is what we are all waiting for. Responsibility for getting that done lies with the constituency MSP's Mr Kerr and Ms Dunbar. This should have been made available to Mr Kerr and Ms Dunbar's constituents by the end of September 2023 and it was never done. I really cannot see what Mr Kerr and Ms Dunbar are finding so complex about this?
I have identified an independent engineering expert, Dr Thomas and he was one of a number of experts that recorded their opinions on Brimmond School in 2017 and, I have to say, it was a deeply troubling opinion, as were the others. He would be able to carry-out a design review and adjudicate on whether the school is safe, or not. The alternative to Dr Thomas would be Buro Happold and either would be acceptable. It is for Mr Kerr and Ms Dunbar to select one of them, and it can be either of them.
Reports have been sent to Police Scotland and the SPSO and incident numbers have been issued by both. If the design review finds that I have been correct all-along, and that looks virtually certain now, then Police Scotland can conclude their investigation into "Reckless Certification" against Mr Garvin and Mr Spence of Scottish Building Standards and the SPSO can conclude their investigation into "Misfeasance in Public Office" against Ms Baillie, Mr Sarwar and Mr Moore of the Scottish Government.
As Mr Jack is in charge of the Devolution Settlement, it is prudent to make him aware that:
A) The Scottish Parliament is under this type of investigation.
B) A school that has been occupied for the past 8-years and certified as safe, may be unsafe and in danger of sudden collapse.
It is entirely possible that the Scottish Parliament is in breach of both criminal and civil law. Have I have explained this to the SLCC and my constituency MSP? Yes I have. I understand that Mr Kerr is a lawyer by profession and so this investigation is one that he can conclude virtually on his own from here. He perhaps needs reminded of that?
As it stands, I am waiting on Ms McLauchlin and everyone else is waiting on Mr Kerr and Ms Dunbar? Once it all concludes, you may decide that a Public Inquiry is required and I say that because I have a feeling that the Scottish Parliament will decide that a Public Inquiry definitely isn't required.
Finally, this is a great engineering disaster on a UK scale and I think that everyone knows that by now. Fortunately, no-one has been killed.
Dear Natalie,
If I can get a response in one day from the Secretary of State for Scotland's office, then I can get a response in one day from Mr McAteer's office and so ask him to call me tomorrow please.
George - If the settlement is acceptable, it will be accepted and that means as well as payment to me, there should be separate payment to you. Engineer Prakash, the ASCE etc.
ReplyDeleteDear Police Scotland,
ReplyDeleteI have reported a number of times now that my Email account was being accessed and Emails relating to Brimmond School were being removed. This is continuing and this morning an entire group of Emails have been removed. This includes private Emails to my family and that is obviously unacceptable.
My crude understanding of Data Protection law is that anything protected by a password, as a personal Email account is, is protected and cannot be accessed legally by any third party. In this latest incident, all of this week's Emails have been removed from my "sent items".
My days of believing that the Scottish civil-service, in all its forms, are honest and incapable of knowingly breaking the law vanished a long time ago and the trailing Emails explain why that is the case.
I would now like to make a formal report about this please. Can someone call me please and I will visit a Police Station to do that?
George - what this example shows, and the Covid Inquiry shows too, is that the safety of the public is very far from the thoughts of the Scottish Parliament. You are political and I am not, but what is noticeable is that it is not just the SNP, my constituency MSP is from Labour. It now lies with Liam Kerr and to a lesser extent Alex Cole-Hamilton who I reckon are among the best we have at Holyrood. This is so far removed from the performance of any world government it cannot go-on, can it? Engineer Prakash cannot believe this.
ReplyDeletewe live in a corrupt morally bankrupt country, years ago we had people in politics seen as statesmen and women, now we have grifters who have no idea of public service, as the political class.
DeleteYou may not remember this, but about 6 or 8 years ago, something like that, Angela Constance stood-up at Holyrood and said that Scotland was ahead of the world in that we had broken the glass ceiling and that women were at the top in nearly every sphere of Scottish life. I am not interested in pigeon-holing people and if a woman is the best candidate for any job then I am relaxed about that. But, we are now seeing the damage done by a platoon of vapid women, especially women lawyers, who know fuck-all about anything suddenly being foisted upon us. It has created a great number of unhappy people, like myself, and can anyone blame us?
DeleteThe SNP ran with a gimmick called 'SNP women will get things done', we found out what that meant as they were shit at everything.
Deletehttps://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/post-office-s-secret-decision-to-sack-forensic-accountants-branded-disgusting/ar-BB1hiBjA?ocid=msedgdhp&pc=U531&cvid=fed5a5b8c9174455b23e789e3fca9c1a&ei=14
ReplyDeleteThis is what you are talking about, isn't it.
"Eur Ing Dr Stephen Thomas MBA FICE CEng It always amazes me that so many Groundwater problems are not identified and mitigated against during the initial design & construction stage, especially when most saturated soil is around 30% water by volume – 02nd October 2017"
ReplyDeleteThe pressure is so great now that Dr Thomas must have been asked and if he repeats what he said above, then the net has closed on all 70No on the "list of names".
This has been Liam Kerr's project for the past few days. Has he managed it? I think he probably has.
By the way, the maximum prison sentence for "Misfeasance in Public Office" is life imprisonment. Did you know that? That is a measure of the negative public reaction to anyone charged with it.
What do you do with the school now? That's the question, isn't it. Dr Thomas doesn't say because the answer involves a lot of complex engineering. Baillie's "not an engineer" remember. Hopefully therefore, the other names on the list of names have removed her out of everyone's way.
Dear All,
ReplyDeleteWe are finally at the end of this investigation. I have had to do everything on my own. The independent expert opinion recommended by Police Scotland on 11/9/23 is provided below and it confirms that the school has been affected by "Groundwater" which is a hydraulic failure and, As EC7 (Part 2, 2.1.4) confirms Groundwater as a principle, P (no alternative) concern regarding foundation design, the school should not even be open to the public. I do not know how many of you are aware of that (?), but you are aware of it now:
"Eur Ing Dr Stephen Thomas MBA FICE CEng: It always amazes me that so many Groundwater problems are not identified and mitigated against during the initial design & construction stage, especially when most saturated soil is around 30% water by volume – 02nd October 2017"
In addition to Dr Thomas's opinion, which I would be prepared to accept on its own, you have each been presented with an additional forty or so expert opinions, which mean that the matter is beyond any reasonable doubt. A great deal of work needs to be done to find a solution of course but, once you understand the problem, you can find a solution.
Since 2014, it has always been the case that someone was going to win and I have therefore won.
My settlement and replacement job should be provided by Harper MacLeod and the last Email I received from them was on 23/12/19 and it was from their Professor Robert Rennie. The Email is as follows:
"I am not responding to anymore of your emails. Do not send any more. I dealt with your groundless complaint years ago".
Professor Robert Rennie
Consultant
Tel: 0141 227 9370
Fax: 0141 229 7370
My complaint is not groundless and Professor Rennie knew that as he had Dr Thomas's opinion from 2017. An impertinent response from an awful legal practice.
In order to break the impasse, I have offered to meet Mr McAteer and that offer was made, and has been repeated weekly, for the past year. Sadly, Mr McAteer has never reciprocated.
It doesn't fall to me, a member of the public, to resolve this for you, it falls to parliamentarians and so can you ensure that an instruction is given to either Harper MacLeod or Mr McAteer to offer a settlement to me? This request is to Mr Kerr, Ms Dunbar and Mr Cole-Hamilton as some sort of cross-party leadership, direction and consensus is required.
This case has been full of analogies: the Hyatt Regency Walkway Collapse, the Surfside Apartment Collapse, the Piper Alpha disaster and the Shirley McKie case and the final analogy is the Watergate cover-up. No-one was killed but criminal law was undoubtedly broken by the government and many people went to jail because of that. So far, I have reported 5No individuals to Police Scotland and to the SPSO, but there are others on the list of names.
Finally, the deletion of personal Emails that I reported to Police Scotland on Friday is something that should be of great concern. When the government behaves like this, it degrades every one of us.
George - Deeply shocking isn't it. Profound corruption.
ReplyDeleteDear All,
ReplyDeleteFurther to yesterday's Email, I attach 3No photographs of the school which were all taken in 2015. The question is: "Do these photographs show Groundwater" and if they do, should the building remain open to the public? That is a question that can only be answered collaboratively.
The most important analogy of them all was the decision to close 17No Edinburgh schools for non-compliance with Design Standards in 2016 and it is for you decide if Brimmond School's non-compliance, explained yesterday, should be treated the same way.
Finally, all decisions regarding the standards the school is built to are for for the Scottish Government. Aberdeen City Council have the statutory duty for the safety of the building, but they are currently under investigation for Reckless Certification, as is Scottish Building Standards. Hence, it should be for the parties not under investigation to decide and those are the HSE, Buro Happold and the ICE, all of whom are in receipt of this Email.
A decision in my favour will of course have implications for those currently under investigation but, in this case, the safety of the public and your ethical and legal responsibilities come first, very clearly.
For the parliamentarians among you you, this is probably the most important decision that you will ever have to make. I have provided the evidence required to make that decision, but the decision has to be made by you in collaboration with the experts.
Dear Natalie,
Let me know please if Mr McAteer is willing to negotiate a settlement on my behalf, or not? I am copying this to Universal Credit and my position is that I wish this case to be concluded with a settlement and a return to work, this week. We seem to be suffering a profound lack of communication here, don't we.
Dear Natalie,
ReplyDeleteWe can now leave the matter of Brimmond School and whether it remains open or not to the others? I am leaving them copied-in until I hear from Mr McAteer.
The key piece of evidence for getting me paid and back to work is the 18/5/15 Email by Harper MacLeod's Bruce Caldow and it is trailing a short way down.
In it, Mr Caldow confirms that he has accepted the Contractor's side of the argument, without seeking the opinion of any independent experts. He was obviously keen that I should not speak to anyone else regarding getting the safety of the design checked, and I have always seen that as an example of "solicitor's negligence". I spoke to independent experts two years later, along with Engineer Prakash of the ASCE, and it is fortuitous that we did that.
So, the way it currently stands is that I will be expecting Harper MacLeod to pay my losses and return me to work.
I have attended hundreds of meetings during my career and unless a date, time and venue are set for a meeting such as this, the stasis will continue. Just accept my advice on this, please: everyone in engineering works to a timeline. So, can I suggest the meeting takes place with Mr McAteer on Friday morning? Please confirm because we all require adequate notice.
Dear Natalie,
ReplyDeleteEngineer Prakash contacted me a few hours ago by Email. He is dismayed that this remains unresolved and offered his assistance to bring it to an end for me. You may contact him directly if you so wish. You have his Email address and phone number in KSA? Let me know if you do not?
Dr Thomas is a Fellow of the ICE and so we now have more than enough serious engineering expertise. Can I suggest that you pick-up the phone and speak to Engineer Prakash and the ICE picks-up the phone and speaks to Dr Thomas?
If we allow these engineering experts to advise us on engineering, rather than Ms Baillie and the "List of Names"? That would make a lot more sense to me and I presume to all the rest of you, not least Police Scotland.
During my conversations with Universal Credit, I have offered to work overseas. Bruce Caldow is Harper MacLeod's Employment Law Partner and, as I explained earlier, his professional negligence caused this disaster and so give him the responsibility please of finding me a job overseas, by Friday. I am serious about this and I expect it to be done.
Other than Mr Caldow, we do nor require the assistance of anyone else in the "List of Names" and, as Mr McAteer knows, I expect to be paid all of my losses since 2014 and for those that have assisted to be paid sums commensurate with the crucial contributions they have all made to achieving success.
Contact me tomorrow please with a time for the meeting on Friday.
George - these Scottish Government folk have access to my Email again and they no doubt read Engineer Prakash's Email before I did. This has been going-on for a year or more and as I said some time ago, I have nothing in my Emails, going back 12-years, that embarrasses me. What a shite wee country this has turned into though.
ReplyDeleteWould changing your password help?
DeleteYou're right the SNP have turned this country into a shite wee country by their actions.
DeleteThere was a trailer for the series "Mr Bates versus the Post Office". It showed a post-master on a call to someone complaining about the Fujitsu/Horizon software while she was looking at her computer screen. Suddenly, the amount owed doubled without her doing anything and that's the way it works. You can actually watch them delete Emails and they disappear completely, not into your deleted Emails folder, or anything like that. My password is impossibly complex and is changed every few months. It makes no difference.
DeleteGeorge - "Misfeasance in Public Office" - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GH9jyCnJI1M
ReplyDeleteDear All,
ReplyDeleteThis will either be seen by the public as either a "mistake", a "misunderstanding", or a "cover-up". If it's seen as the latter, then there will be many more people reported to Police Scotland and the SPSO than have been reported already.
With that in mind, Harper MacLeod's Email to me of 18/5/15, which is trailing below (highlighted in yellow), is the Email which confirms what we have - is this Email a mistake, a misunderstanding or a cover-up. For what it is worth, I see it as a pretty obvious cover-up.
Harper MacLeod are appointed to advise the Scottish Government and consequently they occupy a position of legal authority and public trust, but does that make them "Public Servants" for the purposes of being investigated for "Misfeasance in Public Office"? That is for you to decide.
I am pointing this out to you as the party that should be held primarily accountable for this should be the party that caused it and that is Harper MacLeod? I end this sentence with a question mark, simply because it is a question that only you can answer and I am only pointing it out to you.
Dear Natalie,
Your reluctance to communicate to find a solution principally for me, but also for the public, is really disappointing and these daily reminders are embarrassing and they are expensive.
I have explained that I have needlessly lost many hundreds of thousands of pounds in earnings and I want that to be understood by everyone and rectified on Friday, by Mr McAteer. Can I therefore ask that you contact me tomorrow about this, please?
Perhaps if you think to yourself: "Why is the chap who solved this case practically on his own, and with no help from within Scotland, unemployed and should I not be doing something about that?"
I am copying this Email to Universal Credit and to Engineer Prakash for their continuing information.
George - You may remember Alastair Campbell's advice re dealing with whistle-blowers and it was that it had to be called "a misunderstanding". Maybe they can still call this a misunderstanding? Who knows. Engineer Prakash is a chap that I know very well and he is utterly shocked by this. A good engineer has been ruined by bent parliamentarians, civil-servants and lawyers. A good clean-out is what is needed now.
ReplyDeleteGeorge - Grenfell Tower, The Hyatt Regency, Piper Alpha, Surfside etc. They were all great disasters involving many fatalities, but no-one was charged with a criminal offence and no-one went to jail because it was accepted that they were the tragic result of mistakes. Watergate on the other hand was a proven cover-up and upwards of 40No went to jail. That's the difference. I don't want to post Caldow's Email up here as it may get you into trouble but the others have it.
ReplyDeleteGeorge - One of the targets of the current Post Office investigation are the groups of lawyers who have acted for the Post Office against postmasters and postmistresses over the years. It's not a criminal or Police investigation, but an investigation of professional ethics.
ReplyDeleteDear All,
ReplyDeleteI have just received a response from Mr McAteer advising that he does not have the authority to get me paid and back into employment and that is accepted.
It is the responsibility of my constituency MSP Ms Baillie, with the assistance of Mr McAteer, to do that. For whatever reason, Ms Baillie refuses to communicate with me and hence I have to communicate with Mr McAteer instead.
Additionally, it is the responsibility of the constituency MSP's, Mr Kerr and Ms Dunbar, to satisfy themselves as to the safety (or lack thereof) of the school and the ICE, Buro Happold and the HSE are the authoritative bodies that are on-hand and are able to answer that question.
Ms Baillie can speak to McAteer instead of speaking to me and that would be acceptable, but can she just do her job, please?
Let me repeat again that I want this to be concluded, for my perspective, on Friday. How any of you can imagine that a member of the public can do your job for you, unpaid and for this length of time, is astonishing. What else can I say?
Dear All,
ReplyDeleteI have explained this many times already, but allow me to do so again:
The following is from a summary of the Shirley McKie case which was conducted during the early days of the Scottish Parliament and was led to a successful conclusion by Shirley McKie's constituency MSP Mike Russell. The preamble to the story is that McKie had been sacked from her job as a Police Constable for leaving her finger-print at a crime scene. She denied this of course but no-one was listening and she was thus driven to the edge of bankruptcy. It was seen at the time as a successful example of what the "peoples parliament", which included Ms Baillie, could do for the public. As you can see, Shirley McKie and Mike Russell relied upon the opinions of 2No American experts:
"She found two champions in Pat Wertheim and David Grieve, eminent U.S. fingerprint experts, who spent hours comparing the fingerprint on the door frame with an imprint of Shirley's left thumb - and concluded they belonged to different people".
Ms McKie was vindicated on the strength of this evidence and because of Mike Russell's drive and perseverance and my frustration at the moment is because you have the guidance of many more than 2No US experts and (some of you) you have had it since 2017 and that appears extraordinary to me. An ethical and perhaps a legal failure which is on a par with "Mr Bates vs the Post Office".
If there are different opinions from multiple different engineers, and Ms Baillie has alluded to that in the past, then it would be a very good idea to let the constituency MSP's see them now. Are they more credible than the ASCE? I don't expect they are, but that is a decision for Mr Kerr and Ms Dunbar to make on behalf of their constituents.
The McKie case is an exemplar of a parliamentary strategy that works "for the public". I await the result of Ms Baillie and Mr McAteer's actions and I am expecting my meeting, with Mr McAteer, to go-ahead on Friday.
Dear Ms Baillie,
ReplyDeleteI have called your office about 8-times in 8-years. The last time I called, which was in the summer of 2023, your assistant said to me: "So you keep saying". Is that a measure of the assistance I have had from you, and your staff, in bringing this case to a conclusion? It probably is.
The purpose of government is to ensure that proper checks are carried-out by independent professionals. It is not to prevent these experts from being heard and I would caution you to think about the senior personnel at the Post Office who are currently under investigation for listening to only one side of the argument when that side of the argument was wrong and everyone knew that and had known it for years. That is the position you are in just now.
This in essence is what Police Scotland recommended in 11/9/23 and most of us would accept that they are right, but not Ms Baillie? Most of us would willingly accept the recommendations of the ASCE but, again, not Ms Baillie? Is there anyone of any consequence that agrees with your engineering, or is it just you? What are Scottish Building Standards saying at the moment? Mr Spence and Mr Garvin?
There are clearly problems with the school's foundations and the Sunday Mail reported that the building could collapse without warning and experience shows that foundation problems do tend to have that inevitable end result and, like Police Scotland, the Sunday Mail were reflecting the opinions of international engineering experts. You are reflecting the opinions of Shona Robison and Shirley-Anne Somerville and that is not the way engineering works - how many times have I explained this to you now?
You have said: "Everyone that needs to know about this does know and no-one agrees with you" and I am asking you to provide that evidence? I am certain that everyone copied into this Email desperately wants to see it. Police Scotland, the constituency MSP's, the teachers, parents, teaching unions, the Press, the Council, Hub - everyone. Show us the evidence, please?
The Scottish Government has, as a consequence of Jonathan Moore's letters of 30/9/16 and 7/10/16 which you have seen many times, but I attach again anyway, assumed, quite needlessly, all liabilities for the safety of the building and the costs for rectifying, or replacing the building on a different site. That regrettable situation has come about due to the minuted Scottish Government meeting of 17/8/16, which was attended by Mr McAteer.
Mr McAteer may wish to correct me, but my understanding is that the Scottish Government is now liable for paying all of my losses and for finding me a replacement job. There is the opportunity to hold Harper MacLeod to account for this, and all the information the Scottish Government requires to do that is trailing, but if you wish to dismiss this advice, as Mr Moore dismissed my advice on 17/8/16, then I cannot help you.
So, either the Scottish Government pays me and finds me a replacement job, or Harper MacLeod does it and that decision is for you and that is what you are paid to do. What I have made abundantly clear is that I require it to be concluded at a meeting on Friday. My preference would be to have that meeting with Mr McAteer, but that decision is for you.
If I have said anything above which you require clarification of, please get back to me by return Email and I will respond. Otherwise, just concentrate on organizing the meeting on Friday, please.
Both myself and Engineer Prakash have handled whistle-blowing cases before and they are relatively common-place in world engineering. In fact, we both managed the "Site 85" example which I sent all of you some time ago. It takes a lot of work and expertise to get through them quickly, in 1-8 weeks. The analogy between Brimmond School and the Shirley McKie case has been made, and it is a good analogy, but there is sadly no comparison between the work you have put in, vis a vis the work Mike Russell put in and I should know.
Dear Natalie,
ReplyDeleteIf the design review information that Ms Baillie has alluded to and Police Scotland recommended has not arrived on Mr McAteer's desk this morning, then we can safely say it doesn't exist and that will give the others plenty to get their teeth into just now, but not us.
I have asked for a meeting tomorrow with McAteer and the purpose of the meeting will be to understand what I am entitled to be paid, what I can expect the others to be paid and where I will be recommencing work and I have offered to work overseas. I must remove myself from Universal Credit and you will understand the crucial importance of that for me.
It will allow me to omit all of the others from future correspondence as this investigation, for me, is now over. I was either going to win, or else be crushed under the weight of the Scottish Government's cack-handed pile-on and it is pretty clear that I have won. It's been a Pyrrhic victory because Holyrood has had more than long enough to ruin this country and that is what they have done.
Send me a time for the meeting as soon as you can please as I require some notice.
George - https://youtu.be/Ws7pR5DtctM
ReplyDeleteDear Ms Baillie,
ReplyDeleteI asked you to organize a meeting for me for this morning with Mr McAteer and I have heard nothing, either from you or from him. Let me reprise the situation for you:
1. The first Email in this chain or Emails is the "List of Names". These are the names that you refer to as: "Everyone that needs to know about this does know and no-one agrees with you". I have provided you with my evidence and they have provided you with their evidence. You have weighed one against the other and decided that the evidence provided by the "List of Names" is stronger. The question I asked is: "Are you sure you are correct?" Surely I am not the only person who is asking you this?
2. My financial settlement, replacement job and payment for the others that I have identified can only be negotiated on my behalf, from the Scottish Government, by you. How long is this going to take?
With respect to your comments that "you have reached the end of the road". You will have reached the end of the road when item 2 above is done and the others will have reached the end of the road when the school is fixed. So, no-one is even close to the end of the road.
I am thus waiting for a call from Mr McAteer.
George - the trajectory of Brimmond School is following the trajectory of Mr Bates vs the Post Office? I was reading yesterday that the "Misfeasance in Public Office" and "Perverting the Course of Justice" are similar and both are under investigation by the investigating authorities in England. Ms Baillie is perceptive when she wants to be and obtuse for the rest of the time. Let's hope that she read that too and is appropriately circumspect about what it means.
ReplyDeleteIt is a pity that this has taken so long.
DeleteI watched Jamie Dawson KC at the Covid Inquiry and I thought to myself: "Scottish law is still alive".
DeleteGeorge - Brimmond School happened in 2014. The "Site 85" example in KSA happened in 2017. Myself and Engineer Prakash handled the "Site 85" example and I have sent them all the evidence for that. We have offered our advice, many times, to the Scottish Government to help fix Brimmond School but it has been turned down by Ms Baillie and the 70No names on the "List of Names". Get the picture?
ReplyDeleteDear Ms Baillie,
ReplyDelete"Everyone that needs to know about this does know and no-one agrees with you" was a statement that was made by you after weighing up the evidence that was presented to you by myself against that presented by the Scottish Government and the Council. The evidence presented by the Scottish Government and Council amounted to a series of "visual inspection reports" by structural engineers.
The 2017 Cole Inquiry was commissioned by Edinburgh City Council following the partial collapse of Oxgangs School and it recommended that visual inspection reports by structural engineers should not be relied upon by any Council in Scotland. That is a point that even non-engineers can agree upon? I have repeated this to you over numerous iterations and so too has Bob Matheson.
If my evidence is now the preferred evidence, and I presume that to now be the case (?), then it is for the others to discuss and agree whether the school should remain open. That is for them and not for you.
What I am expecting you to do for me is set-out in item 2 below. You were a member of Jack McConnell's Scottish Government that was so humiliated by the Shirley McKie case, weren't you? I am trying to prevent the same thing from happening to you again, but I cannot do your job for you.
Again, provide instruction to Mr McAteer and ask him to call me today, please.
Dear Ms Baillie,
ReplyDeleteAll interested parties must be kept copied-in and that's the way it works. We are not in a position where an MSP is re-writing the rules of engineering according to her view of the world.
I have no interest in party politics, but I checked the data and you have been a Labour Party MSP continuously since 1999 and Jack McConnell was First Minister from 2001. If that is indeed so, then you were part of that Government, just as I said.
You have met me once in 8-years and Mr McAteer has met me probably twenty-times during that period and that is why I have suggested that you to let him do this on your behalf. But, the choice is yours. The instruction to Mr McAteer will have to come from the Scottish Government and I have been asking you, for years, to ask them to issue it. Have you not done that yet?
Threatening to withdraw your support degrades everything the Scottish Parliament has stood-for going back over 20-odd years and it degrades all of us. Your constituent, who has been unemployed for the best part of 10-years, has given all of you a lesson in ethics, safety, engineering, honesty, patience and effective communication.
All that I require now is notification of the meeting date from Mr McAteer.
George- The "Misfeasance in Public Office" investigation by the SPSO will commence approximately 4 weeks from now. That is essentially a "cover-up" investigation. They will ask all of the names on the list: "when were you aware of this and what did you do to investigate". My evidence is genuine, the Scottish Government evidence is bogus. Not only that, but the Scottish Government were told specifically not to use their evidence by Professor Cole in 2017. A misfeasance investigation will look at who the roadblocks were; who used their authority to stymie the investigation and allow a bad outcome for the public. I won't say any more, but they are almost all senior (meaning middle-aged) women.
ReplyDeleteDear Ms Baillie,
ReplyDeletePermit me to make one final point to you, copied to everyone else, before we hand-over (hopefully) to Mr McAteer.
This has been a whistle-blowing case and I believe everyone, with the exception of yourself, has accepted that. Bob Matheson of Protect, who I referred to earlier today, advised that whistle-blowers should be released within 8-weeks and when myself and Engineer Prakash handled a whistle-blowing case in KSA in 2017, we managed to release the whistle-blower in 5-weeks and so Bob's advice, as you would expect, was good.
You have been leading this case as my constituency MSP not for 5-weeks, or 8-weeks, but 8-years. Hence there is a problem and your responses from earlier leave me extraordinarily disappointed.
Engineer Prakash contacted me last week, so concerned was he that this was taking so long to resolve, and he offered to provide his assistance direct to Mr McAteer. I don't know if you are aware of that? With Engineer Prakash, the resource of the ASCE becomes immediately available and any question on the subjects of engineering or construction law can be answered within days. I have not spoken to Engineer Prakash or Mr McAteer in the days since and so I am unaware if this is happening, or not, but what I can say is that the offer was made.
At the same time, I suggested that the Institution of Civil Engineers seek the assistance of one of their senior members, Dr Stephen Thomas, who provided his opinion on Brimmond School in 2017. Again, I have no idea if they have asked Dr Thomas, but I think they should, otherwise they may be at risk of failing to live-up to their own ethical standards and that is a red-line for most professional engineering institutions. However, that decision is for them.
The point I am making here is that although you are not taking this seriously, others are and my advice to you is to stand aside and let the experts, be that the ICE or the ASCE, deal with the safety of the school building and whether or not it can be fixed, and offer Mr McAteer the authority he needs to liaise with the Scottish Government. As I have stated and re-stated half a dozen times now, I am asking you to do for me, what Mike Russell did so successfully for Shirley McKie.
That, is all that I am asking you to do and so please do it.
George - I'll tell you another thing they can do with your computer; they can slow it down to such an extent that it can take you an hour or two to type one short Email, as those above. When I complain to Police Scotland about anything like that it always stops but I have had enough for today. If it's the same tomorrow though, I'll complain. You are an IT man and have probably never experienced this before but Protect have heard of it and it concerns them greatly.
ReplyDeleteIf you suspect the computer has been hacked, then factory reset wipes it clean, just save anything important to an external hard drive.
DeleteDear Police Scotland,
ReplyDeleteI have complained to you intermittently about my Email account being accessed and Emails removed and I notice that after each complaint it stops for a while.
Today, all day, my computer has been slowed to a snail's pace and it takes an hour or two to type what should take 10-minutes.
I have said before, I have 12-years of Emails in my account and they are normal Emails and there is nothing that embarrasses me. The question is, do we live in a democracy here or are we governed by a delinquent gang of law-breakers.
Can I request that the Scottish Government clears-off, just does its job, and leaves private Emails alone.
Dear ICE and Buro Happold,
ReplyDeleteYou have both been copied into these Emails for several years now and so you are aware of the current stasis. Ms Baillie says that Brimmond School is safe because the Scottish Government says it is safe, and they say it is safe because Aberdeen City Council say it is safe, and they say it is safe based upon two visual inspection reports by Fairhurst of Aberdeen. It is called "plausible deniability".
These visual inspection reports therefore hold the crucial role with respect to this investigation and if they prove to be wrong, then that provides evidence for the Police Scotland investigation into "Reckless Certification" and it provides evidence for the SPSO investigation into "Misfeasance in Public Office". I think that they wrong and if so, Ms Baillie's "plausible deniability" disappears.
If you will excuse the analogy, we have a House of Cards and if we pull-out the right card, everything falls to the floor, instantly.
I attach the visual inspection reports with this Email and, as you will see, I have over-marked them with my comments. The usual iterative process in engineering is that these comments are answered and in that way an agreed position is arrived at. That has never been done because it would expose the reports as being entirely bogus. On a professional level, this is putrid of course, but when it affects public safety, as it does here, then it becomes a matter of potential criminality and that is why it has been reported to Police Scotland.
Let me say at this point that I believe the professionalism of Buro Happold would prohibit them from ever producing bogus information of this type but, having said that, your silence on this matter equates to acquiescence. You have refused to do it and so someone has done it for you.
The Soil Investigation Report which is also by Fairhurst is attached and if you compare this with the two visual inspection reports, you will notice many examples of deception. The days when visual inspection reports were seen as relatively benign are long gone and this is the reason why.
Can I leave it with you both to discuss this and determine what you wish to do? I think that we ought to move, very quickly indeed, from engineering by Ms Baillie and Fairhurst to engineering by Buro Happold and the ICE. Whichever way you look at it, this is what the public are paying for and contractually, this is what they ought to be getting.
Dear Police Scotland,
Interference with my private Email is continuing and I would like to report this formally at Govan Police Station, please. The last time I visited Govan Police Station it was to report "Reckless Certification" by Scottish Building Standards and it looks very much as though I was right. Prior to that, I had never been inside a Police Station in my life and so let's hope this is the final complaint of criminality I have to make against the Scottish Government. Let me know if I require an appointment?
Dear Natalie,
Once Buro Happold and the ICE deliver their verdicts on the visual inspection reports, my situation changes and this nightmare can be ended. Unless you communicate, nothing gets done and so communicate please.
George - "Plausible deniability is my middle-name"
ReplyDeleteGeorge - As you can see above, I have no respect for Jackie Baillie. Protect, Police Scotland, the ASCE, Universal Credit on the other hand are professionals and haven't let me down over the years. Hopefully, I'll be able to cut Universal Credit loose next week. I used to be Raghu's boss before I met those idiots at the Scottish Parliament.
ReplyDeleteDear Ms Baillie, Buro Happold and ICE,
ReplyDeleteFirstly, the last Email in this chain was sent by me on Saturday 3rd February. In it, I asked Buro Happold and the ICE to check the veracity of the visual inspection reports, by Fairhurst, that you are all relying upon. I reported to Police Scotland earlier today that this Email had been removed from my records of sent items at approximately 9.30am this morning.
I note that it has been removed from your Scottish Government records too and that is extraordinary. Can anyone explain that? If not, then we are now perhaps within the realms of "Malfeasance in Public Office" rather than "Misfeasance in Public Office". Perhaps this investigation can be left to the SPSO and Police Scotland?
All the data required for Buro Happold to do this check is attached again with this Email. It can be carried-out within a day and so I will be expecting a result back from you by close of business today. I will be either right, or I will be wrong, and that will be the end of it.
You have been reported to the SPSO for "Misfeasance in Public Office" because you accepted the opinion of Councillor Jenny Laing rather than the opinions of more than 40No world expert geotechnical engineers and that was a profoundly unwise and disrespectful thing to do. It has resulted in costs to me and to the public that will now have to be paid.
Because you have refused to assist me over the years, I have had to be assisted by Beltrami and that has cost me around £350/hr and so you can imagine how much I have already paid in legal costs. If you had done what Mike Russell volunteered to do and did do for his constituent, none of this would have been necessary, but it has been necessary.
Hence, the actions arising are as follows:
1. Police Scotland are investigation "Reckless Certification" and breaches of "Data Protection Law".
2. SPSO are investigating "Misfeasance in Public Office", which may revert to "Malfeasance in Public Office".
3. Buro Happold, under the auspices of the ICE, are investigating the veracity of 2No visual inspection reports by Fairhurst.
4. If her constituent is proven correct, Ms Baillie to negotiate fair compensation for him, for those who have assisted him, to negotiate the provision of a replacement job and an apology from the Scottish Government and Aberdeen City Council.
It is for you whether or not you elect to take advice from Mr McAteer. We are all waiting on Buro Happold's deliberation and they have half an hour before close of business.
George - She's obviously taking advice from Harper MacLeod. Do they run the country? Or, do they just ensure nuisance folk are crushed? It must seem like a long time ago Jackie was at Holyrood Palace for her Damehood. A Damehood which was awarded "for services to constituents".
ReplyDeleteDear Buro Happold and ICE,
ReplyDeletePlease ensure that you issue your review of the "visual inspection reports", by Fairhurst, tomorrow (Tuesday). Everyone copied into this Email ought to see this as it is information that belongs in the public domain. If you find them incorrect to the extent that you refuse to review them, then just say that.
Dear Ms Baillie,
My final outcome meeting on Friday can either be with you, or with Mr McAteer and that decision is for you. I presume that you are going to give the review to constituency MSP's Mr Kerr and Ms Dunbar tomorrow? I say that because I notice they are not copied-in just now and I think they probably should be.
Dear Ms Baillie,
ReplyDeleteUnder-noted are the list of items for full and final agreement at Friday's meeting:
1. Payment to myself.
2. Payment to the 5No individuals and organizations that have assisted me since 2018 and Ms McLaughlin will identify them for you.
3. Replacement job for myself.
4. Apologies to be issued to me by the Scottish Government and Aberdeen City Council.
It is for you to organize the meeting and to ensure that all items on the agenda are answered at the meeting.
Dear Police Scotland,
Interference with my private Email is obviously still continuing and are E-mails currently being removed from the Scottish Government system too? Ms Baillie may have made a mistake yesterday of course and if she has she will inform you.
Raghu,
ReplyDeleteIf you read through the trailing Emails (you are mentioned a few times), that explains the situation as it exists just now. I have requested that payments be made to myself and 5No others on Friday. The 5No others include yourself and the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE). You are due to be paid for your honesty and work, the ASCE for the facilities they provided and the access to their members that allowed the problem to be identified.
As you can see below, I have requested an apology from the Scottish Government and Aberdeen City Council and I see that as an essential component part of my settlement. The rationale behind getting you paid is that the 70No names at the start of this Email chain have each been paid for the past 8-years for getting it wrong and had we let that situation go unchallenged, then the school building would have inevitably suffered a structural deformation as a result.
The visual inspection reports that have so transfixed everyone in authority in Scotland are attached with this Email. There are a few more, but these two are the best they have and they are by Fairhurst. I have no doubt that you will find them among the most dishonest pieces of work that you have ever seen anywhere in the world and, speaking as a Scottish engineer, it embarrasses me to say that to you.
I will contact you again as soon as I have more information for you and that should be very soon.
Dear Police Scotland and Ms Baillie,
ReplyDeletePolice Scotland recommended that independent checks be carried-out on Brimmond School on 11/9/23 and, since then, I have heard nothing. Therefore, yesterday afternoon, asked Engineer Prakash to check it for you. He has the authority to advise the Saudi Government on complex engineering and so he is competent to advise the Scottish Parliament on Brimmond School. I suspect he has an answer ready for you.
Dear Ms Baillie,
I have lost many hundreds of thousands of pounds due to this case and that scandalous situation should be ended on Friday either with a meeting with yourself in your office, or with Mr McAteer in his office. You are my constituency MSP and so the choice is yours and either will be acceptable to me. Let me know today please what you have decided to do.
Dear Ms Baillie,
ReplyDeleteThe purpose of the recently introduced Building Safety Act was to take decision making away from parliamentarians and leave it in the hands of the HSE and Building Standards and you appear to be completely unaware of that? It was introduced, as I understand it, in response to the Grenfell tragedy.
There are the legal standards in engineering and there is your view on the world and it is the former that takes precedence and so my advice to you is to leave this entirely with the engineers and I think that would be the advice of most of us just now.
It is your job, as a constituency MSP, to represent your constituent's interests and that is what the "people's parliament" was designed to do. When it works, as it did in the Shirley McKie case, it is a success and when it fails to work, as it has done here, it degrades all of us.
I copy-in Engineer Prakash in KSA who has had the "Visual Inspection Reports" since late yesterday afternoon and so he will be able to tell us if the Visual Inspection Reports are correct, or if they are not correct. I suspect they are not correct and it will then be for the constituency MSP's Ms Dunbar and Mr Kerr to decide what should be done about that.
If it is found that I have been correct for the past 10-years (and it appears pretty clear that I have been) then it is your job to ensure that I am properly paid and returned to work and that the others, including Engineer Prakash, are properly paid for their guidance. I have also asked for an apology to be issued to me.
I will be unable to respond to any more of your Emails until later this afternoon and so let me be very clear with you: All that I require is that you ensure that Mr McAteer is instructed, by the Scottish Government, to meet me on Friday. You are complaining too much and my advice is to stop complaining and just get it done.
Dear Natalie,
ReplyDeleteCan you make an appointment for me to see Mr McAteer on Friday please. I will be in Glasgow for most of the day today but send the appointment time through to me by Email. My claim for losses is against the Scottish Government and my evidence is the meeting of 17/8/16 which was attended by Mr McAteer, the minutes of which are trailing near the bottom of this page. Engineer Prakash has offered to speak to you directly and he is astounded by this situation. He had no idea things were this bad and he wants to help.
I am copying this through to Universal Credit and so can you get the meeting scheduled for tomorrow please as this farce has gone-on for long enough. The ASCE are involved again and I suspect that will remove the last remaining roadblocks out of the way rather quickly.
Dear Mr Baker,
The Building Safety Act which I referenced this morning is being implemented in England and Wales but it is not being implemented in Scotland. The Act puts the Health and Safety Executive in charge of Building Safety investigations. In Scotland, we have Shona Robison MSP in charge of Building Safety investigations and so nothing, including Brimmond School, ever gets investigated. Is it not time you said something about this?
Dear ICE,
Engineer Prakash has reviewed the Visual Inspection Reports,by Fairhurst, that I sent him last night and he contacted me a few hours ago. He has concluded, as I have, that they are bogus. I responded that Fairhurst are ICE members and so it is for you to carry-out a professional misconduct investigation. Can I ask you to do that and, if you find them non-compliant with the ethical code, that you inform the parties listed above and remove them from the record, immediately. I am not a member of your Institution but I find these documents, from any sort of professional standpoint, to be loathsome and so too does Engineer Prakash and his team. I hope you have some concept of the damage they have caused.
Dear Ms Winfield,
I appear to have the support of expert members of the ASCE which is encouraging. They work quickly of course and they are asking why Buro Happold are allowing the safety of their design to be validated by "Visual Inspection Reports" by Fairhurst, who have no contractual authority for the School. As you can see, I have asked the ICE to investigate them but, as they stand, are they acceptable to Buro Happold? I would expect the answer to that to be "No" and so I wonder why it is you have accepted them. I understand that Police Scotland asked for a proper design check on 11/9/23. Do you intend to provide this? If Buro Happold are refusing, the ASCE will step-in and do it for you and so it is your choice. That would of course settle this long-standing dispute within a day.
Dear Secretary of State for Scotland,
I understand that the statutory duty for the safety of Brimmond School lies with Aberdeen City Council and, failing that, with the Scottish Government. Are you aware that Aberdeen City Council's Head of Building Standards George Spence and the Scottish Government's Head of Building Standards Stephen Garvin are under Police investigation for "Reckless Certification". Presumably, that means that under the Scotland Act, the Secretary of State for Scotland is authorized to intervene to issue instructions? That might be a good idea just now?
Dear Police Scotland,
Interference with my Email is getting steadily worse and it is almost unusable now. I really do not think this is acceptable. Can I report this to Govan Police Station this weekend, please?
George - And Ms Baillie said to Princess Anne: "I organize Scottish Government cack-handed pile-ons against innocent members of my constituency." You don't get any of this in Saudi Arabia. I've been saying that for years haven't I? There are others saying it now and they will speak directly about it.
ReplyDeleteDear Natalie,
ReplyDeleteI am leaving for Glasgow and will not be returning until late late. Can you schedule tomorrow's meeting for early morning or late afternoon, please? Anything from 10.00am - 2.00pm will not be suitable for me.
I would like to review the minutes of the meeting from 17/8/16. Mr McAteer of course attended that meeting. Is the Scottish Government responsible for my losses since that date, or not? If the answer to that question is: "Yes they are", then we require to agree what these losses are and get them paid and I want to do that tomorrow.
The expert team at the ASCE stand ready to offer guidance should anyone require it. They did that before in 2017 and it would be a good idea to make sure that they and the others are paid first, before we ask for any more help?
Dear Police Scotland,
Can I have an appointment on Saturday or Sunday, please? When Data Protection laws are respected in KSA and not in Scotland, by the Scottish Government, then we have problems?
Dear Natalie,
ReplyDeleteI should have attached these two letters earlier from the Scottish Government's Jonathan Moore, dated 30/9/16 and 7/10/16. All that Mr McAteer requires to make his assessment are these two letters and the meeting minutes of 17/8/16.
I do not have a printer and so can you print this for me, please. This is all that we need for tomorrow.
Dear Natalie,
ReplyDeleteI haven't heard anything from you and so I presume that today's meeting is not taking place?
Others will be looking-on at this situation and thinking to themselves: "Scotland used to be the home of engineering; not that long ago; look at it now".
Can Mr McAteer call me at home either tonight, or at the weekend, and we can get this episode, which disgraces all of us, on the road to being finished.
I've sent you the below about half a dozen times already. It's from 2018. We are now at the stage where it has to be decided if I am right, or Professor Rennie is right.
ReplyDeleteIt's the same situation that Mr Bates is in, in Mr Bates vs the Post Office. Mr Bates appears to be right in which case Fujitsu and the Post Office owe recompense and an apology to the postal workers. If I am right then I am owed recompense and an apology by the Scottish Government and Professor Rennie's employer.
"I am not responding to anymore of your emails. Do not send any more. I dealt with your groundless complaint years ago".
Professor Robert Rennie
Consultant
Tel: 0141 227 9370
Fax: 0141 229 7370
He really was a grotesquely crooked wee lawyer, wasn't he. God knows how he managed to work with impunity for so long. He's dead now of course.
"He really was a grotesquely crooked wee lawyer".
DeleteYes, a scumbag, hope he likes hell.
Dear Police Scotland,
ReplyDeleteInterference with my Email is continuing. When I last visited Govan Police Station on 3/9/23, to report "Reckless Certification" against Scottish Building Standards, it was a crime that hardly anyone had heard of, but that was the start of "due process" which will be followed-up later this month by an investigation by the SPSO into "Misfeasance in Public Office".
Data Protection laws may be of minor importance in the context of this investigation and I may be the only party affected by it, but I am a member of the public and if it is not investigated for me then it will continue in the future for others. I will leave that decision for you as I have reported this several times without response and so if you would like me to visit on Monday to formally report this, call me with an appointment time please.
Dear Natalie,
Let me summarize this case for you: When I told Aberdeen City Council, the Scottish Government, Hub and their lawyers that a school in Aberdeen would sink, perhaps suddenly, and when, after almost 10-years, the only honest design checks that have been made available to the public have been carried-out by myself and by experts outside of Scotland then we have what amounts to a cover-up. That has been reported to Police Scotland and the SPSO and so, from my perspective, this case is over.
I asked for Mr McAteer to call me on Friday or over the weekend and he hasn't done that and so can you make sure that he calls today, please? We all need to get-on with our lives. This Email chain started with the names of 70No individuals and organizations that have done nothing and have each been paid for doing nothing. The case has been solved by myself and 5No individuals and organizations and we must be paid. Apart from myself, there is only one other Scotsman on the list and that is tragic.
Dear Natalie,
ReplyDeleteI received a response from Engineer Prakash a short time ago. He and his team work on a Sunday in KSA and he suggested putting a fixed timeline on this and I agreed.
He is able to bring together the opinions of a large number world experts and you are all aware of that. These will be engineering experts and construction law experts as well.
Can I therefore suggest that Mr McAteer calls me today. KSA are 3-hours ahead of GMT and so, if Mr McAteer doesn't call, Engineer Prakash could easily have this done by close of business tomorrow.
George - I do not know what Raghu has in mind. It was the ASCE in 2017. It may be them again, I don't know. It will be published overseas though and so there is nothing that anyone can do to prevent that. Engineer Raghu is not one for fannying about and it was always going to end on some arbitrary day of the week. We'll see what we get from Engineer Prakash vis a vis what we already have above from Professor Rennie. It submission was made by myself the last time, this time I will let Raghu do it and it can be submitted tomorrow.We will then start to get responses back from named experts at the rate of 2 or 3 per day. That is what I would expect. So, after all of this time we are finally rid of Jackie Baillie and Shona Robison and all the rest of the vested interests. I know Raghu and he is not doing this for money or anything like that. He has some honesty about him, he knows that he is right and he knows that he cannot be threatened.
ReplyDeleteDear Natalie,
ReplyDeleteI didn't receive a call from McAteer and so we will proceed and Engineer Prakash will solicit the opinions of a range of international experts.
The last time we did this, in 2017, we received responses at the rate of approximately 2 per-day and so if we achieve the same again, we should be into double figures by the end of the week. That should be enough? If it is not enough, we will continue.
All of you appear to be on a course pre-set for defeat and if that is indeed the case, then this strategy will achieve that for you.
Engineer Prakash has the "Visual Inspection Reports" by Fairhurst that you are all relying upon and he has the Soil Investigation Report, also by Fairhurst. (I attach them again for his ease of reference)
He is based in KSA and so is, as I understand it, outwith the reach of Harper MacLeod. I have however asked him to communicate only with myself and I will send the data from him on to you and the others and that will provide him with adequate protection. As things stand just now though, I doubt if Harper MacLeod are in a position to threaten anyone.
To stop this, Mr McAteer will have to call the meeting with myself and have all 4No items on the agenda answered. Everyone ought to be paid and I want to get back to work and so ask Mr McAteer to call me when he is ready. Also, and not least, I presume that at least some of you will be anxious to get the school fixed before there is an accident?
Raghu,
ReplyDeleteLet me explain what is required.
There are two conflicting bodies of evidence. The first was presented by myself in November 2017 with the cooperation of expert members of the ASCE. I have presented that evidence to all of them many, many times since then, perhaps a hundred times(?), and they refuse to accept it. There appears to be no question that this evidence is authentic, but all 70No on the "List of Names", and some of those listed above, refuse point-blank to accept it.
The alternative evidence, which are the two "Visual Inspection Reports" by Fairhurst, which were presented to me by the Scottish Government in December 2021, has been accepted by everyone. You may find that a fairly bizarre situation in terms of world engineering, but you can see who is copied into this Email and there is no doubt that they have all accepted it.
This is the status-quo that has existed for 10-years now and, as long as it exists, they will all continue to work and be paid and I will be not work and I will not be paid and that is a cycle that has clearly been very, very difficult to break.
Firstly I would review the Fairhurst Visual Inspection Reports and should serious engineers really be accepting this? Secondly, I would review the design change of the 5m deep trench. We did that in 2017 of course, but it has since been reported in the Press that that could lead to a sudden structural deformation and according to EC7 we are close to that already, but what is your team's assessment of that? Don't go into the probability of risk, let them worry about that, they only require to know if the risk exists, or not.
It is relatively easy for them to blacken the reputation of one individual and that is what they have done over the years. It is not possible for them to do the same to a large group of professionals who are all saying the same thing and so that is the way I would approach it.
I am keeping all of the parties copied-in as you can see.
Dear Natalie,
ReplyDeleteYou can wait for Engineer Prakash and his team to come back with their engineering advice, or you can meet me before it arrives and it is of course up to you what you wish to do. I will represent myself and the 5No other parties that have worked on this case free of charge and are now are due to be paid.
You are aware of my rationale for being paid?
I have requested an apology is delivered to me from the Scottish Government and Aberdeen City Council and I have requested a job is provided, preferably overseas. I have suffered from what I would call a cack-handed pile-on since 2014 and if that's the way Scotland now works, then I will gladly leave.
Finally, ignoring this, doesn't mean that it goes away and, in fact, this now has the potential to become a lot worse and I am sure that all copied-in are aware of that.
George - Professor Rennie has got them all into a hell of a mess.
ReplyDeleteA despicable man
DeleteDear Natalie,
ReplyDeleteThe following is the suggested text. It hasn't been posted-up yet as I am still waiting on you:
"A new school was built near the bottom of a site which sloped downwards for several miles towards a major river. The soils were glacial tills comprising layers of clay with interspersed thin layers of sand and gravel. The climate is wet, meaning that the granular layers work as confined artesian layers carrying groundwater from the high ground above the school, down to the river. The water table on the school site was 0.5m-1.0m below ground surface level. SBC for the soil in it's dry state was 150kN/m2 and in its wet state was less than 75kN/m2. Design SBC was 150kN/m2 and so, you can see, there was no margin for error and the land had to be kept dry for the design to work.
The school was designed to be supported by shallow pad foundations, as deep foundations risked blocking the artesian layers.The design also called for the site to be drained first and that was done with a network of French drains.
The Project Manager left for annual vacation and he was replaced with a different Project Manager. The new Project Manager thought he smelled hydrocarbon contamination on the site and so he dug a trench 5m deep from one end of the site to the other looking for the source of the contamination. In the end, he didn't find any. But, what he did do, was block all of the confined artesian layers in the top 5m of the site, with clay. The continuity of the confined artesian layers was therefore destroyed, by accident. When the original Project Manager returned from vacation,the site was flooding with both clean groundwater and muddy groundwater and that has gone-on ever since. The school was built but that original problem has never been fixed.
The owner of the school knows there is a problem and is reminded of it regularly, but his answer to it is to carry-out "Visual Inspection Reports" and to monitor the settlement of the building and he does both regularly.
The question is: With the experience of the Surfside Collapse still fresh in everyone's mind, is the owner correct in assuming that settlement will occur slowly and with prior warning? Could it in fact occur suddenly?
Some of you may recognize this case as it was posted-up in late 2017. Then, it was suggested that the site be drained down to a depth of 5m, with a gravity system, but that was never done".
The last time this was posted-up, we received 47No responses in 6-weeks. So, each of you has had adequate warning.
Raghu,
ReplyDeleteCan you get that ready within the next day or two? Make the photographs as big as possible this time. Don't post it up yet and I will wait until I get a response from Natalie. I really have no idea what to expect as this has gone-one for so long and everyone involved has dug themselves into a deep hole as a result.
The way that I am looking at this is that there are 5No people who ought to be paid and paid well for their work and you are on that list. If you don't want it, give it to your wife. My instruction to Natalie is that you are paid and that instruction has been in place for many months and so I think you should take it.
It will be interesting to hear from Dr Thomas again? Funny how they all get-it instantly and no-one that's anyone in Scotland gets it and we are supposed to be the worldwide home of engineers?
If we don't get a response from Natalie by tomorrow, post it up on Friday? When the responses start coming-in, they should come-in at a rate of 1 or 2 per day. If you send them through to me a couple of times per week, I will send them on to the others.
If there is anything that you think needs added to the text, just go-ahead and add or change it as you wish.
Dear Natalie,
ReplyDeleteCan we set a deadline for Friday 16th February for the meeting with Mr McAteer?
There are three private individuals to be paid, and that number includes Engineer Prakash, the "American Society of Civil Engineers" (ASCE) should be paid as should "Protect" and I am expecting the payments awarded to each to be significant. That expectation is based upon the seventy or so names on the "List of Names" who have somehow managed to all get fully paid for the past 10-years for doing nothing that serves the public interest.
I am expecting to be awarded a payment, a replacement job and be given an apology by the Scottish Government and Aberdeen City Council.
If any of you wish to change the wording of the submission then change it as you wish, return it to me tomorrow morning and I will sent it on to Engineer Prakash. If I receive nothing, then this will be submitted on Friday. Good luck to all of you if that happens.
This is what ethics in worldwide engineering looks like and can I suggest that you all accept and deal with it, because it is not going to change.
Dear Natalie,
ReplyDeleteI have not received any requests to change the text and so the text, as it stands, has been accepted as a fair and objective summary of my concerns which have been expressed consistently since September 2014.
The submission to the ASCE expert groups will follow the same pattern as that submitted in 2017, which I attach again with this Email. The text will be as trailing and there will be 5No photographs which you have all seen before before.
As I alluded to yesterday, there is nothing secretive about safety in engineering. This is the way the ASCE works and, in my experience, this is the way the rest of the world (including England) works and the public expectation will be that it should work that way in Scotland too.
I have paid approximately £50,000 in legal fees already and so what should Engineer Prakash, the ASCE, Protect and the others each expect to be paid? That is for you to decide but if they are not paid properly, there will be no settlement.
I am going to Helensburgh later today to explain this to Universal Credit in person. So, either the meeting with Mr McAteer goes ahead tomorrow, or the submission is made to the ASCE tomorrow and it is for you to gather the opinions of the interested parties noted above and let me know what you want to do.
Raghu,
ReplyDeleteCan you post this up tomorrow? I have carried-out a few minor changes. The others can have a final read through it to ensure that they are happy with it. I have not received any requests to change any of it yet and so this is everyone's final chance - if there is text that you want added, or omitted, let me know before the end of the day and I will let Engineer Raghu know.
When the "Visual Inspection Reports" were issued by the Scottish Government/Aberdeen City Council in 2021, they were issued to all of those copied-in to this Email and they said nothing and in doing that they acquiesced to them and by presenting this text to them now, and by them declining to respond, they are acquiescing. So, when this is finished, it will be "Visual Inspection Reports" versus the "ASCE Discussion and Comments, Parts 1 and 2" and everyone who is copied-in can decide which is most convincing.
"A new school was built near the bottom of an area of land that sloped downwards for several miles towards a major river. The soils were glacial tills comprising layers of clay with interspersed thin layers of sand and gravel. The climate in this country is wet, meaning that the granular layers work as confined artesian layers carrying groundwater from the high ground above the school, down to discharge in the river. The water table on the school site was 0.5m-1.0m below ground surface level. SBC for the soil in it's dry state was 150kN/m2 and in its wet state was less than 75kN/m2. Design SBC was 150kN/m2 and so, as you can see, there was no margin for error and the land had to be kept dry for the design to work.
The school was designed to be supported by shallow pad foundations, as deep foundations risked blocking the artesian layers.The design also called for the site to be drained first and that was done with a network of French drains. So far, so good.
The Project Manager left for annual vacation and he was replaced with a different Project Manager. The new Project Manager thought he smelled hydrocarbon contamination on the site and so he dug a trench 5m deep from one end of the site to the other looking for the source of the contamination. In the end, he didn't find any and so he back-filled the trench with clay and, by doing that, he effectively blocked the confined artesian layers in the top 5m of the site. The continuity of the confined artesian layers was therefore destroyed, by accident.
When the original Project Manager returned from vacation,the site was flooding with both clean groundwater and muddy groundwater and that has gone-on ever since. The school was built but that original problem has never been fixed and so, in winter, the soil is saturated and areas of the site become flooded, even when it's not raining.
The owner of the school knows there is a problem and is reminded of it regularly, but his answer to it is to carry-out "Visual Inspection Reports" and to monitor the settlement of the building and he does both regularly.
ReplyDeleteThe question is: With the experience of the Surfside Apartment Collapse still fresh in everyone's mind, is the owner correct in assuming that settlement will occur slowly and with prior warning? Could it in fact occur suddenly?
Some of you may recognize this case as it was posted-up in late 2017. Then, it was suggested that the site be drained down to a depth of 5m, with a gravity system. That, in itself would not be easy and so it was never done. All that has been done since 2017 are the addition of surface water drains which are not addressing the source of the problem".
When the responses start coming-in, please send them to me and I will send them Ms McLaughlin and Ms Baillie and it will be for them to distribute that data to the others. That's the communication plan I used in 2017 and so I will use that again.
My advice to you would be to communicate only with Ms McLaughlin and I say that because it will be Ms McLaughlin who will be paying you for your work.
Everyone here owes you a debt of gratitude for providing the means to finally get this checked properly, by honest professionals and my view on this is that lives may well have been saved by the tenacity of your work. There will be many people worried by this turn of events but neither you, Protect, the ASCE, nor I, are among them. That is the ethical role of the professional engineer and it always has been and there is no more to it than that.
This is the final Email I will sent you that is copied-in to the others and I have done that so that it is perfectly clear what checks are now being carried-out and when they will start. From now-on though, everything between us will be confidential.
Dear Natalie,
Universal Credit's role is to get me back into work and I have explained that this work had to be done, but that it is now finished and they have accepted that. I am now ready to return to paid work, I am willing to work almost anywhere in the world and it is the Scottish Government's responsibility to assist me with that. That is something that Ms Baillie believes that she has no responsibility for and she is certain that she is right. Therefore, in addition to the payments which I explained to you this morning, this requires to be explained to the Scottish Government and a solution found and so can I ask you to do that for me, please? I will be meeting Universal Credit later today and so the matter is extremely urgent.
George - Scottish Futures Trust, the Scottish Government and Aberdeen City Council are the correct authorities to send this to, but if they refuse to act honestly and that puts safety at risk, who investigates and prosecutes that?
ReplyDeleteSadly right up and down the chain of authority, covering their backs is more important than doing the right thing
DeleteGeorge - Are we finally at the end now? "This has all been a misunderstanding" That's what I would say.
ReplyDeleteWhen this is over, the sense of relief will be huge
Delete