Drilling work to disrupt children for five weeks

Nov 24 2008 by Alison Rennie, Paisley Daily Express

WORRIED parents fear their children’s education will suffer because of building work being done to their school.

Kirklandneuk Primary in Renfrew is undergoing five weeks of work to replace the rendering on the outside of the school building.

But mums and dads believe that loud noise from pneumatic drills will disrupt their kids’ education – and could even damage their hearing.

Fiona Lovett’s 11-year-old daughter Bryony and 10-year-old son Harrison both attend Kirklandneuk Primary and she believes the work should be carried out during the school holidays.

Harrison has complex learning and medical needs and had to be signed off from school when previous building work was carried out at Kirklandneuk Primary.

Fiona, 35, said: “Apart from the impact this work may have on my son, the council must also consider the other children in the school.

“They are being exposed to pneumatic drills removing rendering from the exterior walls of the building.

“According to a recent television report by the Royal National Institute for Deaf People, a pneumatic drill operates at 110 decibels on average, while the legal maximum noise level in a workplace is 85 decibels.

“The council offered to move Harrison to a different school while the work is ongoing but that isn’t suitable.

“His clinical psychologist thinks that would be as harmful to his education as staying in the school for the duration of the building work.”

Fiona, of Nethergreen Crescent, Renfrew, added: “This isn’t just about Harrison, it’s about all the pupils.

“Renfrewshire Council have told us they’re not in control of when the work is carried out but I think that’s nonsense.

“If they’re paying for it, why can’t they tell the contractor to do the work in the summer holidays or at weekends when there are no children in the school?

“We wanted to see a schedule of the works so that we could help Harrison deal with it but that hasn’t happened either.”

A council spokesman said the local authority is tied to a strict financial timetable which makes it difficult for work to be carried out on school buildings during the summer break.

The work got under way last week and is expected to take five weeks to complete.

The spokesman added: “Our aim is always to try to avoid interrupting our pupils’ education.

“However, the render at Kirklandneuk Primary School has to be replaced to stop water getting behind it and causing major damage.

“If this damage were allowed to happen, much more extensive repairs would eventually be needed.

“There is no quiet way to remove render. Essentially it has to be chiselled off.

“The school has 255 pupils and all of their parents were sent a letter about the work. Only one family raised any concerns.

“The council offered to relocate their child to any one of three local primary schools while the work was under way.

“We also offered to provide a free taxi to the school of their choice and ensure that extra teaching staff were available for their child.

“This offer was turned down.

“Teachers will make a professional judgement on what is best for their pupils. If there are high noise levels, the children can move to a quieter part of the building as there are other areas readily available.

“Work to fit a disabled ramp and handrails was completed outside school hours and at weekends.

“But the process of removing and re-plastering the render needs to be continuous, so this wasn’t possible.”