Repairs to school roof to begin

A QUARTER of a million pounds has been on a new roof for a 15-year-old primary school in Swansea after defects were found.

Sketty Primary School, off Llwyn Mawr Close, was completed in 2004 to accommodate nearly 500 pupils.

It cost around £3.5 million, and has a nursery and some 15 classrooms.

A roof should last considerably longer than 15 years, but the council said it could not ask the contractor to pay the bill as the defect liability period had elapsed.

A council spokesman said: “Recently defects have appeared with the roof that could not have been identified at the time and these have started to impact on the day-to-day running of the school.

“The council has looked at all the options available to us but unfortunately the original work is no longer covered by any guarantee nor is it recoverable from our own insurers.

“A new roof has been installed by a different contractor following a competitive tendering process. The £250,000 has been factored into this year’s capital maintenance programme.”

The previous primary school was on Carnglas Road, Tycoch.

Sketty councillor Cheryl Philpott said she’d had some fibreglass roofing installed at her house and that the warranty was 20 years.

Referring to the school roof replacement, she said: “This seems a poor show on behalf of the (original) contractor.”

Speaking in 2004, Swansea’s former cabinet member of education John Miles said of the new school: “This is a major development for education in Swansea.

“We need this new school to help cope with demand. It will be a modern school with modern facilities to meet the needs of modern education.”