I was hugely disappointed to read about the discovery of asbestos in the roof of the currently closed Ruchill Community Centre. 

I wrote to Glasgow Life to ask what works have taken place to date and what the costs have been. I also wanted to know what works remained outstanding and what the estimated costs and budget was to see them completed. I was also keen to understand when the community centre had been anticipated to reopen?

I have now had a reply from the Chief Executive of Glasgow Life that I wished to share with constituents.

Reply from Glasgow Life

6 July 2023
Mr Bob Doris MSP
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

Dear Mr Doris
Thank you for your recent enquiry with regards to Ruchill Community Centre. I can advise as follows.

Our initial assessment of the works required at Ruchill was estimated at £262,000 which was secured, but as with many buildings more issues arose as further investigations took place. The impacts of inflation in the construction sector also mean that estimated costs need to be reassessed following contractors analysis of the materials and works required.

Since receiving funding and approval to repair Ruchill CC £47,791 has been spent to carry out the following works:

• New fire alarm system
• Boiler design
• Enabling works /scaffolding for the roof works
• Reinstatement of the fire exit stairs
• Rendering to front doors

Further quotations have now been received which are currently amounting to £636,647, this includes for the following works:

• Boiler replacement
• Cold water mains replacement
• Roof replacement
• Asbestos removals
• LED lighting and electrical testing

This does not allow for any contingency for any further complications or unforeseen costs and we would anticipate that we will undertake further asbestos sampling and testing within the boiler house.

The total estimated cost of works undertaken and those quoted for totals £684,438 and it would be prudent to allow around 10% for contingency, bringing the potential cost of reopening Ruchill Community Centre to between £684,438 and £750,000, £488,000 more than the budget The works above are solely to make the venue functional and do not address the other problems with the venue such as DDA compliance, lack of insulation, accessibility, look and feel/decoration.

With regard to your enquiry about asbestos management, an asbestos management survey was carried out in May 2016. This is the standard survey as required for duty-holders in non-domestic properties under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012. Its purpose is to locate, as far as reasonably practicable, the presence of asbestos within the venue. As per Regulation 4 of the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 - The Duty to Manage, an Asbestos Management Plan was compiled by Glasgow Life Facilities Management, a copy of which is retained at the venue reception for staff, contractors etc to review prior to carrying out any work. The Asbestos Management Plan includes the asbestos register and colour coded venue plans.

As well as non-intrusive management surveys, refurbishment surveys and sampling were carried out in February 2015 and October 2022. The Asbestos Management Plan is reviewed and updated as and when any new asbestos information is received. In addition to hard copies of asbestos registers and plans being on site, all information for this venue is retained on the MODUS Asset information Management System (AIMS).

After assessing the asbestos information, the venue was determined to be of low risk with no recommendations noted and therefore asbestos monitoring by duty-holders was to be by annual
inspection. Annual asbestos monitoring was carried out in 2016, 2017, 2018, with the last asbestos monitoring for this venue being in August 2019 (with the next due in Aug 2020). Due to COVID restrictions and the venue closure in March 2020, there has been no asbestos monitoring in this venue apart from adhoc venue checks by Facility Management Officers and venue management.

It was originally proposed to overlay the roof, unfortunately it was identified that the weight of the additional overlay could not be supported therefore the roof required to be replaced. To undertake these works, an asbestos refurbishment survey, a requirement for planned works, was carried out in April 2023. It was identified the presence of asbestos in high level ceiling insulation boards within the venue which would need to be removed, at an additional cost, to facilitate the roofing works.

The previous tenants at the community centre, North United Communities (NUC) and Ruchill Credit Union, were given a verbal update at the end of May 2023 regarding the potential delay to the reopening of the venue. Both organisations indicated they will continue to deliver their services from the Pavilion during this period. Their future plans regarding facility use is not something we are in a position to comment on, it is for these organisations to make that decision based on their best interests.

I trust this information is of assistance.

Yours sincerely
Susan Deighan
Chief Executive