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A report about leaks has been leaked to the Dame.
The headmaster of the £90 million educational extravaganza has been told, to his horror, that 'what lies beneath' has rendered his new glitzy pool unfit for purpose.
The school has been vaunted as an architectural masterpiece.
Let's hope that it is not more about style, rather than substance.......
This is the dire news the HM would prefer to be kept sub rosa.
"We discovered over the summer, water leakage into the swimming pool. The water was drained for investigation. We have now established that a substantial amount of ground water has been building up under the pool linings, so much so, that the pressure has blown holes into the concrete slab. It is unclear how, or from where, this water (in essence stagnant water) is entering the pool.
Shepherd Construction are now awaiting instruction from RBKC to begin intrusive investigation. They may of course establish that the problem is not isolated to the pool area.
(this bit is very worrying for it implies that there are ground engineering problems going far beyond the swimming pool area)
I have been advised that the pool will be out of use for at least the autumn term.
I have been advised that the pool will be out of use for at least the autumn term.
An unexpected and unfortunate start to the new year."
They obviously dug below the water table. A problem that is also being encountered in many of the ridiculous basement excavations that have become a plague in the Borough. Expensive and sometimes impossible to repair. Its what happens when greed and hubris combine. Owners keen to make a buck. Local Councillors desperate to spend tax payers money. Builders keen to make more profit and turn a blind eye.
ReplyDeleteAnother failure for Mr Bore and his expensive group of Planners in Hornton Street. They approved the plans. High time for a cull. Too much tax payers money being wasted on highly paid retreads in City Hall. Unemployable elswhere
ReplyDeleteAnother unjust attack on poor Mr Bore. In this case the pressure on Bore (and everyone else in Hornton Street) by the madly ambitious and self seeking disgraced ex Leader, Cllr Cockell,to sweep aside any opposition to his vanity project (Holland Park School) was unbearable. Pooter pummeled any opposition into the ground and adopted a scorched person policy to dissent
DeleteDisgraced ex Leader Cockell was a self inflicted wound by Tory Councillors
ReplyDeleteI recently heard about a K&C house with 'subterraneans' that has contracted Legionnaire's Disease - always a possibility with steamy unventilated areas.
ReplyDeleteIn this case they can't find the source or eradicate it, and for the present the entire house has had to be evacuated.
I hope they've tested HPS pool for this nasty virus.
"Steamy unventilated area"
DeleteIs disgraced ex Cllr Phelps lurking there?
The Kensington Society has warned for ages about the dangers of digging beneath the Water Table but of course the advice has been brushed aside. Inconvenient. Another failure of Democracy in the Royal Borough
ReplyDeleteA perfectly good indoor swimming pool (the envy of other local schools) at Holland Park School was demolished to make way for luxury housing. It was replaced by a hugely expensive underground pool which now appears to be leaking from outside in. All part of the scandalous £100 million cost of the new school which busted Government guidelines of no more than £30 million to be spent on a new school
ReplyDeleteAnd of course not a single new place was created and the old school was in top condition according to Government statistics. But disgraced ex Leader Cockell needed his vanity project and his poodle Tory Councillors did not have the balls to stop him.
Wait until Margaret Hodges hauls the reptile up before the Public Accounts Committee of the House of Commons
Scribe should stop putting around false information. The school budget was £88 million, not £100 million. There has been an over run but the cost is still less than £100 million. And the Government guideline is £33 million, not £30 million. And the rebuild of Holland Park School cost NOTHING because it was paid for by the sale of the playing field.
DeleteStop quibbling!
DeleteThe true cost is close to £93 million in other word practically 3 times over the Government guideline. The school, despite the huge cost, adds not one extra place....again, in breach of guidelines.
Don't be dumb..a taxpayer asset...the playing field was sold to pay for the school so it cost the value of the disposed asset.
Swimming pool leaking from outside in. This must be a "first" for the Royal Borough
ReplyDeleteA glance at the geological map shows the school is exactly situated on the 'Spring Line'.
ReplyDeleteHowever, something here is not quite right if my elementary physics can be trusted. As long as the pool was full of water surely the water pressure inside the pool would balance any water pressure outside the pool? If so then the problem is not with the waterproofing, but more structural, such as the earth pressure not being sufficiently resisted by the strength of the construction, causing cracks in the slab.
Apparently it won't re-open before December at the earliest - and still it won't open to the public!
ReplyDeleteSounds 'convenient' to me. Whilst everyone is focused on the leak, they forget about wanting to swim in it.
ReplyDeleteHow many times do those who comment on the cost of the rebuilt Holland Park School as being "free" have to be reminded that selling an asset reduces the Council Balance sheet and is therefore a "cost"-
ReplyDeleteWhats more now that the school is an Academy there is a further "loss" to the Council's balance sheet since RBKC has granted the Academy a 125 year lease on the property at a peppercorn rent
And the Council is to use planning gain arts money to subsidise the vanity sculpture by Anthony Gormley that is going to be stuck on the outside of the building. This will be the icing on Napoleon Hall's cake.
ReplyDelete