Tag Archives: Pedestrian safety

Leith Central Community Council: ‘shocked by new hold up to long-overdue Leith Walk repair works’

Statement for immediate release

The email announcing that the contractor for the current phase of the Leith Walk repair works (Iona Street to Brunswick Street) has gone into administration came yesterday late afternoon.

There have been indications for a while that work had slowed down, but this latest development has come as a complete shock. We are seeking urgent clarification on how this will impact on the current work sites in various states of completion south of Pilrig Street and the Iona Street compound, and – most importantly – on the overall progress of getting the Leith Walk works completed all the way to Picardy Place roundabout.

We understand that prior to the contract being awarded comprehensive assessments of the contractor’s financial stability were obtained by the Council. This being so, this would be the first time in the 10 year saga of Leith Walk on/off repairs that the Council does not have to shoulder the blame for the delays and costs that no doubt will come in the wake of this latest development.

Whether there will be further reputational damage will depend entirely on how quickly this situation is recovered, and the relevant clauses in the contract:

  • Is there a sufficiently sized performance bond in place, shielding the project from any financial fallout?
  • Is the works documentation up to date, to allow work to be picked up smoothly by replacement contractors?
  • If the works do not continue in the immediate future with a new contractor and complete before the summer break as planned, will residents and businesses be compensated?
  • Will the various work sites be supervised and protected adequately in the meantime?
  • Will the snagging of the completed works around Pilrig Street be addressed promptly to restore confidence?

It has been said that one should ‘never let a crisis go to waste’. Is this the wake up call that was needed to make the reinstatement of one of Edinburgh’s top three streets a top Council priority?

– ends –

Leith Programme stakeholder update: Pilrig St to McDonald Rd, St James, Trams to Newhaven

(adapted from an email sent by Michael Motion of the Leith Programme at 15:58 on 2017_03_16)

 

Phase 4 update (Pilrig Street to McDonald Road)

The upgrade of the Pilrig Street junction is now complete, and the junction has been re-opened to traffic as of 16th March. Works will now continue on Leith Walk as part of the Pilrig Street to MacDonald Road phase of the Leith Programme. The footpath up to Middlefield and outside Sainsbury’s, and completion of outstanding Crighton Place works, which were previously delayed due to Scottish Water infrastructure works, will be the focus over the coming weeks. The Leith Programme Phase 4 end date remains summer 2017.

In addition to the above, and commencing as of Monday 27th March, CEC will be installing a number of planters and trees to Leith Walk at various locations north of Pilrig Street. Continue reading →

Leith Walk patching update – Week 4

The following information has been provided via Cllr Nick Gardner (t. 0131 529 3282; e. Nick.Gardner@edinburgh.gov.uk) by CEC’s Transport Design and Delivery section within Traffic & Engineering Services. At this point it is not clear whether the contract will complete for both north- and south-bound carriageways between Brunswick and Picardy by 7 December, as stated in CEC’s stakeholder communication 90 of 21 October 2016

This is the fourth update on the patching works for Leith Walk which started on Sunday 23rd October 2016.

Works have progressed well again this week with the contractor safely negotiating the difficult works at the London Road Roundabout which has inevitably slowed progress down due to the requirement to reset various pieces of ironwork and carry out trial holes and plane the carriageway in two layers to ensure they avoided coming into contact with the London Road Air Raid shelter located on the west side of Antigua Street and under the roundabout itself.

The programme is still ahead of schedule and has now completed sections 6, 7, 5 and 4 (London Road to Annandale Street) and will commence section 3 tomorrow night (Thursday 10/11).

As part of the ongoing management process of patching contracts such as this we are currently assessing the remainder of the works to ensure best value is achieved and whether alternative methods would be better suited to complete the works. I will be in a better position to provide an update on this by next week’s update.

Next week, and in line with previous week’s timings, operations will start at 7.00pm on the evening of Sunday 13th November on the south bound carriageway from Montgomery Street to London Road and continue through to Thursday 17th November including a newly identified section on Leopold Place.

Again, all noisy operations (jackhammers, planers etc.) will be completed by 10.00 o’clock and all operations concluding by 2.00am at the latest.

As ever, please be assured that every effort is continuing to be made complete these works as soon as practicable.