Fears over Edinburgh Christmas Market safety kept secret by city council despite public reassurances

Safety fears over the scaffold structure for the Christmas Market were held by Edinburgh City Council officials despite being brushed off publicly by the local authority and contractors Underbelly.

The Evening News can reveal that on the same day it reported on public fears over the construction of the so-called ‘space deck’ in East Princes Street Gardens in November, council officials kept secret their concerns over the structure.

The secret internal safety fears were not dealt with by Underbelly until the day before the market’s opening, emails from council officers show.

The revelation follows the news on Wednesday that Underbelly director Charlie Wood threatened to cancel the Winter Festivals three times as relationships frayed between the events company and the council.

Edinburgh City Council said any concerns raised were checked and acted upon and said they made clear the market would not open if it was not deemed safe.

Underbelly said that safety is “always our first priority” and received a building warrant “in the proper manner”.

Evening News told no safety concerns

On November 6, pictures of stacks of thin pieces of wood supporting the scaffolding were shared on social media by concerned residents with many worried about the safety of the overall structure.

At the time, the Evening News was told by Underbelly that the “installation in the East Gardens is safe” and by the council that the application for a building warrant demonstrated “compliance with the regulations”.

In a statement, published in an article on November 6, the council added that the application for the building warrant was “currently being assessed”.

However, in emails obtained by the Evening News, internal concerns over the safety of the structure were being shared between council colleagues and building standards.

An email sent on the same day by David Givan, a service manager in the council’s planning and building standards department, to David Watson, Underbelly’s head of production, shows the structure was far from being considered safe by the council.

It was also on this day that Charlie Wood labelled concerns over potential impact to trees by some of the market’s stalls as “cr*p” in an email to director of place Paul Lawrence.

'Not been constructed in accordance with the warrant drawings'

Mr Givan wrote: “From what we have seen from photographs on social media it appears that (at least some) of the scaffolding support structure has not been constructed in accordance with the warrant drawings.

“In particular, these drawings show timber sleepers of 100 x 200mm sections while the photographs we have seen show scaffolding planks which appear to be approximately 50mm thick.”

Mr Givan goes on to make Underbelly aware of a site visit and warns Mr Watson that a fresh SER certificate or changes to the construction would be needed for the structure to be compliant.

Despite this, the council had stated publicly that the existing SER certificate “demonstrates compliance with the regulations”.

Neither the council nor Underbelly made the concerns over the safety of the structure public at any point ahead of the opening of the Christmas Market on November 16.

This was despite several questions on social media and enquiries from the Evening News.

'No compromise' on public safety

Following the concerns being brought to Underbelly’s attention, Mr Givan told Charlie Wood the next day that “it is essential that you address any of the requirements that [officer] sets out”.

He added: “At present, works are being carried out without a building warrant and without planning permission. I consider that the steps I have set out above and in my email to David Watson of yesterday to be very reasonable given these circumstances.”

After another exchange of emails, the council’s executive director of place, one of the most powerful officers in the local authority, sent an internal email to staff, including the council’s head of communications.