RIVERSIDE homeowners, who earlier this year were warned the quay wall at their properties had cracked, have been told the problem has got worse.

 

And an engineer commissioned by the owners' factor has predicted the effect of the wall collapsing into the river would be "catastrophic".

The stretch of quay wall between the Kingston and Tradeston bridges is the responsibility of the 278 owners in the Waterfront development on the banks of the Clyde.

In August this year, city council engineers discovered cracks had appeared and the riverside walkway was closed to the public.

The council has now written the Waterfront owners saying the situation has deteriorated.

The letter says: "Due to the very recent deterioration of the condition of the Windmill Croft Quay wall, Glasgow City Council has had to take action to fence off all forms of public access to the quay wall.

"The council has, on numerous occasions, raised its concerns on this matter with the factor for this development - Speirs Gumley - but unfortunately the factor has failed to act on the council's concerns within an appropriate time frame.

"Public safety is of paramount concern and as the situation has worsened, the council has no option but to restrict access to the quayside walkway.

"Please note that despite this action by the council, the responsibility for repair and maintenance of the quay wall still lies with the various owners of the properties of this development.

"Access to and from the building remains the same - via the front door."

Experts have estimated it could cost around £2million to stabilize the quay wall and around £6m to completely repair it leaving owners with bills of almost £20,000 each.

The problem came to light when council engineers checked the condition of sections of the quay after a 50 yards stretch of the walkway on the north side of the Clyde just west of the Kingston Bridge at Anderston Quay collapsed into the river. Many of the walls date back to the 1800s.

A report from engineers commission by Speirs Gumley says: "Failure of any of the tie rods would in all likelihood result in a collapse similar to a section of Anderston Quay in 2013.

"The proximity of some of the buildings to the line of the wall means the consequences of a wall failure would be catastrophic."

A city council spokesman said: "As no work had been undertaken by the owners of the properties since the problem had been identified, the council was compelled to issue the letter advising that unless public access was immediately stopped through fencing, we would have to do so to ensure public safety. The costs of doing so would have to be recovered from the owners of the adjoining properties."

Gillian Haffie, senior property inspector with Speirs Gumley, insisted the company was not given time to consult property owners and their contractors in advance of the walkway being sealed off.

She issued a timeline of events which she said the company is in the process of sending to home owners.

It claims that Speirs Gumley received an email from the council at 5.07pm on December 12 saying "the council puts your clients under notice that unless immediate steps are taken in order to effectively fence off public access to the quay wall, the council will require to undertake this work in order to protect public safety.

"The costs of so doing will be charged to the property owners and the council will seek to recover these from the owners."

Three days later a telephone conversation took place between Spiers Gumley and the council about the "unreasonable" timescales to consult and arrange fencing on behalf of owners.

But about an hour later, the council emailed the factors saying: "Since you have not taken action this service intends to fence off access to Windmill Croft Quay in order to protect public safety.

"The fencing will restrict public access to this area. Please note the close doors and doors from ground flats to this area will also be fenced off for safety purposes."

Speirs Gumley said it has sent the council four emails requesting information about the recent deterioration but has received no response.