Trinity Building Incident

Residents at the Trinity Building and nearby homes in the Park Circus area of the city were evacuated on Saturday 29 January 2022 due to safety concerns relating to the Trinity building and a cordon erected for contractors to carry out surveys and emergency repairs.

Information will be posted on this dedicated page for affected residents to be kept updated with developments, contacts and supports available.

Key updates will also be published on the council's social media channels.

Latest Information

13 April - Re-opening update

Please note that the exclusion zone around the Trinity building and surrounding properties will now begin to be re-open on a phased basis from 1.30pm today (Wednesday 13 April). The time has been brought forward by the council's Building Standards and Public Safety officers, after confirmation that the temporary stabilisation works carried out by the contractors appointed by owners of the building was complete.

This means that affected residents from properties outwith the Trinity Building will be able to return to their homes from 1.30pm today as walkways reopen. Vehicular access will be re-established in the following days and be complete by Friday 15 April.

The residents of the Trinity building will return to their homes when it is judged that there is no longer a danger to anyone occupying it.  The council continues to engage with the owners' representatives to ensure matters move forward as quickly as possible.

There remains no access to the Trinity Building.  Residents who have not already had the opportunity to collect essential items will - subject to assessment - be given access to their homes and businesses for a strictly limited time to do so after the phased re-opening of the streets on Wednesday.  To arrange this, please contact through the owner of your flat.  

11 April Update

The following information has been sent by email to all residents in the cordon:

The exclusion zone around the Trinity building and surrounding properties will begin to be removed on a phased basis on Wednesday 13 April. Following discussions with the contractors carrying out temporary stabilisation works on the Trinity Tower and inspection by the council's Building Standards and Public Safety officers, it has been confirmed that the works are now nearing completion, and as a result the exclusion zone around the site will begin to be removed on Wednesday.

This means that affected residents from properties outwith the Trinity Building will be able to return to their homes from 3pm on 13 April as walkways reopen.

The residents of the Trinity building will return to their homes when it is judged that there is no longer a danger to anyone occupying it.  The council continues to engage with the owners' representatives to ensure matters move forward as quickly as possible.

There remains no access to the Trinity Building.  Residents who have not already had the opportunity to collect essential items will - subject to assessment - be given access to their homes and businesses for a strictly limited time to do so after the phased re-opening of the streets on Wednesday.  To arrange this, please make your contact through the Trinity Residents' Association who are presenting the council with a safety plan for this purpose.  

Please note that a crane will be in place this week to assist with the clean-up of the site.

Walkways and roads that are currently within the exclusion zone will reopen on a phased basis from Wednesday 13 April, and information on this will be posted on our update pages.  Walkways will initially re-open by 3pm on 13 April at the latest. Vehicular access will be re-established in the following days and be complete by Friday 15 April at the latest.

Further information is available within the FAQ's section below

8 April Update

Thank you once again for your patience as we continue to monitor the progress being made on temporary stabilisation works by the owners of the Trinity building and their contractor.

Progress on this work continues to be made ahead of schedule, to the extent that it is expected that the exclusion zone may be lifted at some point next week.

After a visit to the site by Building Standards and Public Safety officers, we will be able to provide a further update on Monday, 11 April regarding the possible conclusion of works and the removal of the exclusion zone.

You may begin to see some activity within the exclusion zone next week, with preparatory work being carried out by the Council's cleansing and lighting teams.

6 April Update - Trinity Building residents only

The following update has been issued to the residents of the Trinity Building:

Your design team may have already explained to you that, as part of the ongoing repair of the Trinity building, it will be necessary for the council to serve a dangerous building notice under the Building (Scotland) Act 2003.

That will happen shortly and we want to ensure you are kept informed about the process and what it means.

The effect of a dangerous building notice is to require owners - as identified by the Registers of Scotland - to make permanent repairs. Owners will be sent the notice, but we will also provide a copy to your factor. The notice will also be posted on the fencing outside the building and published online.

The owners' repair proposals will be assessed and approved by the council and we will carry out site inspections, on an ongoing basis, to ensure the work is adequate to make the building safe. In this case, the notice will specifically require the structural integrity of the failed south wall of the west tower to be reinstated.

The notice will set a date by when works should commence and a date by when they should be completed. This will take into account work that you already have planned, through your contractor.

Crucially, under the Act, the building must remain vacant until there is no longer a danger to anyone occupying it. 

However, it will be possible to allow further risk-assessed access, to obtain belongings, following the completion of the current temporary stabilisation works and once the exclusion zone has been lifted.

To arrange this, please contact IncidentRecovery@glasgow.gov.uk

5 April Update

The following update has been sent to residents this morning:

Thank you again for your patience as we continue to monitor the progress being made on stabilisation works by the owners of the Trinity building and their contractor.

You may have noticed that works are underway to install external wall bracing on the tower. Officers from Building Standards and Public Safety were on site again on Friday to review the works and have advised that they were pleased with the progress being made. They currently believe work is moving more quickly than initially expected.

The inspection also indicated that the planned temporary stabilisation works should, when complete, be sufficient to allow the exclusion zone to be drawn in; assuming no subsequent issues are identified.

The Council remains committed to providing you with information - and we will advise you of any update on the conclusion of works as soon as we are aware of it, along with any other details regarding the removal of the exclusion zone.

25 March Update

As you may be aware, public authorities are required to provide certain information, on request, under Freedom of Information legislation and the Environmental Information Regulations.

The council has received a number of enquiries relating reports prepared on 30 January and 22 February by the structural engineers acting on behalf of the Trinity building owners and the council's responses to those reports.

Normally, any information released is only provided to those who have requested it. However, in this case, we feel it is important that all residents have access to it.

While we are unable to provide details of each information request, due to data protection law, they all require the release of four documents - which we are also making available to you.

This is to ensure residents are aware of the relevant details that informed the public safety decision to erect and maintain the exclusion zone around the Trinity building and surrounding properties. following an unacceptably high risk of the Trinity Tower collapsing uncontrollably.

They are:

•  A report received from the structural engineers acting on behalf of the owners, dated 30/01/22 [555kb]
•   A Draft File Note [84kb] containing the observations of the council at the time of the initial incident. It retains the "first draft" in its title as you will note relevant photographs have not yet been added to its Appendix. In addition, it may be added to from later observations - but, if so, these will not detract from the current content.
•  A further report received from the structural engineers acting on behalf of the owners, dated 22/01/22 [3Mb]
•  The council's response to this report, dated 09/03/22 [238kb]

As you will know by now, the progression of the ongoing temporary works to make the Trinity Tower safe means that it is now estimated that the exclusion zone will removed by 28 April, although this date may be earlier or later dependent on the completion of these works. 

We will provide information on the works concluding as soon as we are made aware of this.
 

24 March Update

The council and the design team appointed by the owners of the Trinity building have been in consultation and discussion following the submission of a report outlining a further scheme of works that aim to complete the temporary stabilisation of the Trinity Tower.  These works will reduce the likelihood of any collapse to a negligible level, which in turn would allow the removal of the exclusion zone around the Trinity building prior to full repairs being completed.

The council has now agreed the scheme of works with the design team and contractors appointed by the Trinity building owners - works that we are confident will meet the requirements of surrounding residents and the council.

This work will now be undertaken and allows a greater degree of certainty with regard to the point when we expect the Tower to no longer present an unacceptable danger of collapse prior to permanent repairs being completed.

We now expect that these works would be completed by 28 April.  Please be aware that at this stage this remains an estimate and that date could move forward or back.

Until that point the current mitigation measures and restrictions on access will be required to remain in place to protect public safety.

As the dates around the programme of work become clearer we will begin to communicate specific plans for lifting the exclusion zone.

18 March Update

Stabilisation and shoring work have continued this week internally to the Tower, with key elements of this now completed.

Alongside this work, officers from the council's Building Standards and Public Safety team continue to engage with the owners' design team and met with them today in what was a very productive meeting.

Following this meeting there will be further discussions at the beginning of next week after which we believe we will be in a position to provide an joint update about progress on site and a reassessment of the anticipated timescales for reducing the safety exclusion zone.

We will endeavour to provide this to you as soon as it is available.

11 March 2022

Progress continues to be made with the shoring work since last week and officers remain in daily contact with the owner's contractors and design team. A response has been issued to the recent report from the contractors, and officers have accepted an invitation to meet with the Trinity Design Team next week (w/c 14 March) which is scheduled to take place following the submission of further details from the design team allowing us to discuss and progress the long-term works that will be needed to stabilise the tower.

Following this meeting we hope that a revised and better informed timescale will be provided to affected residents.

The designation of the tower remains that of a dangerous building and until the Council's Building Control and Public Safety Team can be satisfied that there is no or negligible risk of collapse the exclusion zone will be required to stay in place and access to properties will continue to be restricted.

The council also wanted to provide a further update regarding Council Tax and to ensure that residents are aware that all affected properties are in receipt of Council Tax exemption which will continue until properties are able to be reoccupied.

We are asking residents to be aware that the council is required by legislation to provide all households in Glasgow with their new Council Tax statement following the setting of the council's budget for 2022/2023; however this will not impact upon the affected properties' Council Tax relief.

4 March 2022

Works being carried out on behalf of the owners to stabilise the tower are progressing and officers continue to liaise with the relevant contractors and design team about future planned works. While the Design Team are continuing to explore and develop technical solutions to stabilise the tower, work is already underway and has been for a number of weeks. These works are predominantly to the interior of the tower and are not visible from the street, however they are critical to stabilising the tower and progressing well.

The Council has a statutory duty to remove residents in or affected by a dangerous building immediately until it is assessed safe for them to return. While this work has been ongoing, it is important to note that at this point there has been no change to the tower's designation as a dangerous building. Therefore all exclusion measures and estimated timescales remain in place. This also means that we are unfortunately not in a position to take a different approach to permitting repeat access until such time as it can be demonstrated to the Building Standards and Public Safety Team that the risk of the Trinity Tower collapsing is negligible.

Once the assessment has been made that it is safe for residents to return to their homes, you will be informed of the decision immediately.

While understandably the discussions continue to focus on the temporary stabilisation of the Tower, the council also intends to serve a Section 30 Notice that specifies the permanent work required to ensure the Tower is stable once the former works are removed.

Following the submission of an update report from the owner's appointed structural engineer; officers held a constructive meeting with the Trinity owner's Design Team on 1/3/22 to discuss the current situation and their plans to further stabilise the tower.

A key output from this meeting was for the owner's design team to progress the design of the temporary shoring for consideration by the Building Standards and Public Safety team. This work will be done at the same time as the owner's contractors continue with the site installation works that have been underway for the last few weeks.

We have provided an initial response to their second report and will be providing further detailed comments which will focus on agreeing a design proposal that allows the tower to be made safe in order for residents to return to their properties.

The overall impact of this is that, as of today's date, we continue to work on the basis that the exclusion zone will remain in place for 2-3 months. This position continues to be reviewed regularly. We are aware that a number of residents have made requests for access to their properties which are individually considered, however until the building is no longer designated as dangerous, we are required to restrict access to ensure public and resident safety.

We ask that you continue to channel requests to the Council through the incident.recovery@glasgow.gov.uk address which we will try to respond to as quickly as possible as well as updating the website regularly.

25 February 2022

We have received a further report from Will Rudd Davidson Structural Engineers (WRD) - the design team carrying out the works at the Trinity building - at 19:09 on 23 February 2022. 

Specialist officers are considering the content and conclusions of this report and will provide detailed feedback to WRD next week. We have acknowledged receipt of the report.

At this point, our professional opinion is that the risk of uncontrolled collapse of the tower remains high.

21 February 2022

The installation of temporary stabilisation works is continuing and was inspected again by a GCC structural engineer on Friday, 18 February. Discussions continue on the final scheme and we expect to receive a report from the owner's contractors / engineers on Wednesday 23 February outlining their case for the works they consider necessary to stabilise the Trinity building.

We have also been told by the contractors that there has been no deterioration in the fabric of the building following the severe weather of recent days.

16 February 2022

Amber warnings for high winds and storms have been forecast by the Met Office over the next 48 - 72 hours so a decision has been taken that there will be no further visits arranged for evacuated residents within the emergency cordon for the rest of this week for health and safety reasons.

Council officers have met today with the owners' design team and they have assured us that the tilt monitors situated within the Trinity Building will continue to be constantly monitored and any concerns raised immediately with Building Control.

10 February 2022

An officer from the council's Building Standards & Public Safety section met again today with the design team and contractor appointed by the owners of 35 Lynedoch Street. There is at this time no update on the expected timeframe of two to three months (see 3 Feb update for full details) for completion of stabilisation works.

In the meantime, the owners' contractor has already commenced internal works on the stabilisation of the tower. These works will be necessary regardless of the final form of the stabilisation scheme which is why they have been able to start before the scheme is finalised.

Further discussions between the design team and GCC will continue in the coming weeks, before a final scheme is agreed.

3 February 2022

The council has written to residents affected by the exclusion zone with an update on developments and timescales - a copy of the information is below:

For the attention of residents of the Park Circus area affected by the Trinity tower exclusion zone

Many of you have asked about the timeframe for the removal of the exclusion zone around Trinity Tower.

The removal of the exclusion zone is entirely dependent on when the owners' appointed design team and contractors will be able to complete adequate stabilisation work.

I am afraid the council is unable to answer detailed questions about timeframes at this stage as we are not carrying out the work, however the contractors have indicated to us that the work will take in the region of 2 to 3 months. This is however only an estimate as the further investigations and design work are at an early stage.

As the plans are finalised and timescales become clearer, we will ensure this information is shared with you as soon as possible.

This email has been sent to email addresses collected by staff at the Kelvin Hall rest centre or subsequent contact. If this is not the most appropriate email address for you, or if you would like to have you address removed from this mailing list then please reply to this message asking us to change or remove your address.

1 February 2022

Parking restrictions and road re-directions due to the safety cordon have been introduced and include the following:

The safety exclusion zone has temporarily closed some parts of the adjacent road network including sections of: Lynedoch Street/ Lynedoch Place/ Woodlands Terrace/ Woodlands Terrace Lane/ Claremont Place.  To maintain safety and access to the Park Circus area, the north side of Park Quadrant will be subject to temporary waiting and loading restrictions between Cliff Road and Park Gate.  This will allow two-way traffic on Park Quadrant to access the area from Woodlands Road via Woodlands Gate.  A number of parking bays will be temporarily suspended to maintain safety and access.

Full details in the TTRO document below:

 Park area TTRO [136kb]

31 January 2022

The rest centre at the Kelvin Hall will stay open until 6 pm tonight. We don't intend to open a rest centre tomorrow (Tuesday) and any accommodation queries will be picked up by North West homeless casework team.

FAQs

When will residents get back in their homes after the exclusion zone is removed?

It remains the case that the timescale for the return of residents to their homes will be determined by the completion of works deemed necessary by the contractors to make the building safe.  The exclusion zone will begin to be removed on a phased basis from 3pm on Wednesday 13 April at the latest - and affected residents outwith the Trinity building will be able to return to their properties from this date.

The residents of the Trinity building will return to their homes when it is judged that there is no longer a danger to anyone occupying it.  The council continues to engage with the owners' representatives to ensure matters move forward as quickly as possible.

Can Trinity residents collect items from their homes after the exclusion zone is removed?

There remains no access to the Trinity Building. Residents who have not already had the opportunity to collect essential items will - subject to assessment - be given access to their homes and businesses for a strictly limited time to do so after the phased re-opening of the streets on Wednesday.  To arrange this, please make your contact through the Trinity Residents' Association who are presenting the council with a safety plan for this purpose.  

When will walkways and roads reopen?

Walkways and roads that are currently within the exclusion zone will reopen on a phased basis from Wednesday 13 April, and information on this will be posted on our update pages. Walkways will initially re-open by 3pmon 13 April at the latest. Vehicular access will be re-stablished in the following days and be complete by Friday 15 April at the latest.

When will bin collections restart?

Council cleansing - and lighting - teams will go on-site from Monday 11 April.

Can I return to my normal parking space?

Yes, once the former parking arrangements have been reinstated - information on this will be posted on our update pages.  The dispensation for Park permit holders to use any other shared use parking bay in the city will be in place until residents can return to their homes.

What happens for Council Tax payments for Trinity Tower residents who cannot yet return to their homes?

Residents who have vacated their home will be entitled to Council Tax exemption at the empty property by completing the form at www.glasgow.gov.uk/ctprohibited.

Residents who have moved to a new address within the Glasgow City boundary should also notify the Council Tax team by completing the form at https://youraccount.glasgow.gov.uk/publicaccesslive/selfservice/services/changeofaddress/coastart.htm.

Citizens may/will be liable for Council Tax at their new/temporary address depending on the circumstances.

Further information

For further information, please keep visiting this page where updates will be posted regularly or call 0141 276 1194 (between 10am - 4pm, Monday - Friday).