Construction faults have been found at 19 more public buildings across Edinburgh in the wake of a wall collapse at Oxgangs Primary School in the city.

A report from watchdogs at the Accounts Commission confirms the scale of problems unearthed by investigatiors since the school wall failure.

Nine tonnes of masonry came crashing down in 2016 at Oxgangs due to missing wall header ties.

Seventeen schools were closed following the incident.

Now it has emerged that further problems have been found at schools, libraries, community centres and care homes across the city.

The Accounts Commission report states: “At the end of January 2018, of the 154 properties where assessments had been completed, 19 properties had been identified as having issues similar to those identified at Oxgangs School.

“Remedial work to address the defects identified on these buildings (which include schools, libraries, community centres and care homes) is ongoing.”

The Commission is now calling on all councils to improve their checks on construction work.

It said: “The report emphasises the importance of all councils undertaking regular, comprehensive structural risk assessments and inspections on public buildings to ensure the safety of service users.

“Where a council employs a company to provide construction services, it’s vital that it puts in place appropriate checks and controls.”

Graham Sharp, Chair, Accounts Commission said: “While reduced resources mean councils must make difficult decisions about service provision, they should have an appropriate level of expertise to deliver and safely maintain buildings.

“People must have confidence in the safety and integrity of public buildings.” </s> Nineteen council buildings across Edinburgh have defects similar to one which caused a wall to collapse at a primary school in the capital, a new report has revealed.

Checks were carried out following the incident at Oxgangs Primary School in January 2016, which sparked the temporary closure of 17 schools across the capital.

By the end of January, 154 properties had been checked, with 19 having been found as "having issues similar to those identified at Oxgangs School", a new report from the public spending watchdog has revealed.

Libraries, care homes and community centres are among the properties affected.

The Accounts Commission said the discovery of the faults "signifies the importance of all councils in Scotland undertaking regular, comprehensive structural risk assessments and inspections on public buildings to ensure the safety of service users".

The spending watchdog looked at the circumstances surrounding the wall collapse at Oxgangs Primary - where approximately nine tons of masonry fell on an area where children could easily have been standing or passing through.

A previous report by Professor John Cole found it was down to timing and luck that no deaths or injuries occurred.

Investigations found ties needed to connect the walls to steel beams had not been used in some cases, leaving them unstable in heavy winds.

The school was one of 17 built as part of a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme by Edinburgh Schools Partnership.

Checks were carried out on other City of Edinburgh Council buildings - with the Accounts Commission stating 154 properties had been assessed by the end of January 2018.

The report said "19 properties had been identified as having issues similar to those identified at Oxgangs School".

It added: "Remedial work to address the defects identified on these buildings (which include schools, libraries, community centres and care homes) is ongoing."

The buildings included ones funded using traditional methods, as well as through PPP and the more recent non-profit distributing (NPD) model.

The report stressed the "need for councils to ensure that standards of quality and service" in building standards are maintained, despite the pressure on local authority budgets.

Edinburgh City Council's finance and resources committee recently found £153m is needed over the next five years to tackle the "history of under investment" in the authority's estate - with this money being made available for work starting in 2018-19.

The Accounts Commission said the incident at Oxgangs Primary School "revealed serious faults in the procurement, design and construction of the PPP schools covered by this contract" - adding that these could have had "life-threatening consequences".

The report continued: "Defects have been identified in other schools and buildings within the council estate as a result of the work undertaken in response to the Oxgangs incident.

"These defects are being addressed by the council.

"This incident highlights the importance of regular, comprehensive structural risk assessments and inspections to be undertaken on public buildings to ensure defects are identified and remedied."

Graham Sharp, chairman of the Accounts Commission, said: "The City of Edinburgh Council responded quickly and comprehensively to the wall collapse at Oxgangs Primary School.

"However, all councils in Scotland must ensure public buildings in their care are regularly checked and appropriately maintained.

"While reduced resources mean councils must make difficult decisions about service provision, they should have an appropriate level of expertise to deliver and safely maintain buildings.

"People must have confidence in the safety and integrity of public buildings."

A spokeswoman for Edinburgh City Council said: "We welcome the Accounts Commission's report, which addresses the lessons to be learned by all local authorities following the collapse of a wall at Oxgangs Primary.

"The safety of the public is of utmost importance to the City of Edinburgh Council and we fully acknowledge the need for regular, comprehensive structural assessments of public buildings and are in the process of delivering a series of actions identified by Professor John Cole in an independent report into the closure of Edinburgh schools in 2016."

Download: The STV News app is Scotland's favourite and is available for iPhone from the App store and for Android from Google Play. Download it today and continue to enjoy STV News wherever you are. </s> Every Scottish council has been ordered to regularly inspect public buildings in the wake of a school wall collapse.

The Accounts Commission released their report yesterday on the “serious faults” which led to the problem at Edinburgh’s Oxgangs Primary School.

They said the failings could have had “life-threatening consequences”.

An earlier independent report published last February found it was only due to “luck and timing” that Oxgangs pupils weren’t killed when the nine-ton gable wall came down.

Sixteen other schools in the city were closed after they were found to have faults.

All 17 were built between 2002 and 2005 under a public-private partnership.

The closures came two years after Keane Wallis-Bennett, 12, died when a wall at the city’s Liberton High School came down.

Graham Sharp, chairman of the Accounts Commission – the public spending watchdog for local government – said: “People must have confidence in the safety and integrity of public buildings.” </s> A new report says 19 council buildings in Edinburgh have defects similar to those found at Oxgangs Primary School.

The Accounts Commission said all councils in Scotland should ensure all buildings in their care are regularly checked and properly maintained.

Part of an external wall at Oxgangs Primary collapsed during a storm in January 2016.

Edinburgh City Council said it "fully acknowledged" the need for "regular, comprehensive structural assessments".

Nine tonnes of masonry fell from Oxgangs Primary during the storm and 17 schools across Edinburgh were forced to close amid concerns over building standards with 7,600 pupils affected.

A previous independent report by architect Prof John Cole found it was just "a matter of timing and luck" that no children were killed or injured at Oxgangs.

The school was one of 17 built as part of a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme by Edinburgh Schools Partnership.

A new report by the public spending watchdog said that by the end of January this year, 154 properties had been checked in the city, with 19 found to have "issues similar to those identified at Oxgangs School".

The Accounts Commission said the discovery of the faults "signifies the importance of all councils in Scotland undertaking regular, comprehensive structural risk assessments and inspections on public buildings to ensure the safety of service users".

Following the collapse at Oxgangs Primary, it was found that ties needed to connect the walls to steel beams had not been used in some cases, leaving them unstable in heavy winds.

The report said remedial work to address the defects identified in the council buildings was ongoing, and that the buildings affected included ones funded using traditional methods, as well as through PPP and the more recent non-profit distributing model.

It stressed the "need for councils to ensure that standards of quality and service" in building standards are maintained, despite the pressure on local authority budgets.

Edinburgh City Council's finance and resources committee recently found that £153m was needed over the next five years to tackle the "history of under investment" in the authority's estate - with this money being made available for work starting in 2018-19.

The Accounts Commission said the incident at Oxgangs Primary School "revealed serious faults in the procurement, design and construction of the PPP schools covered by this contract" - adding that these could have had "life-threatening consequences".

The report continued: "Defects have been identified in other schools and buildings within the council estate as a result of the work undertaken in response to the Oxgangs incident. These defects are being addressed by the council.

"This incident highlights the importance of regular, comprehensive structural risk assessments and inspections to be undertaken on public buildings to ensure defects are identified and remedied."

Graham Sharp, chairman of the Accounts Commission, said: "The City of Edinburgh Council responded quickly and comprehensively to the wall collapse at Oxgangs Primary School. However, all councils in Scotland must ensure public buildings in their care are regularly checked and appropriately maintained.

"While reduced resources mean councils must make difficult decisions about service provision, they should have an appropriate level of expertise to deliver and safely maintain buildings.

"People must have confidence in the safety and integrity of public buildings."

A spokeswoman for the City of Edinburgh Council said: "We welcome the Accounts Commission's report, which addresses the lessons to be learned by all local authorities following the collapse of a wall at Oxgangs Primary.

"The safety of the public is of utmost importance to the City of Edinburgh Council and we fully acknowledge the need for regular, comprehensive structural assessments of public buildings and are in the process of delivering a series of actions identified by Professor John Cole in an independent report into the closure of Edinburgh schools in 2016." </s> A stark warning over the safety of public buildings across Scotland has been sounded by spending watchdogs with a call for all areas to learn the lessons of the Edinburgh schools scandal.

Libraries, care homes, schools and community centres were among 19 other properties in the Scottish capital that had similar failings to the defects that caused a wall to collapse at Oxgangs Primary in Edinburgh two years ago, a report by the Accounts Commission today states.

The council has already revealed other buildings were affected, including Towerbank, Cramond and Currie primary schools, as well as Valley Park Community Centre in Gracemount,

About nine tons of masonry fell on an area at Oxgangs Primary where children could easily have been standing or passing through. A previous report by Professor John Cole found it was only down to timing and luck that no deaths or injuries occurred and raised concerns about other public buildings across the country – a worry echoed in today’s report.

Accounts Commission chair Graham Sharp said: “All councils in Scotland must ensure public buildings in their care are regularly checked and appropriately maintained.

“While reduced resources mean councils must make difficult decisions about service provision, they should have an appropriate level of expertise to deliver and safely maintain buildings. People must have confidence in the safety and integrity of public buildings.”

The council’s finance and resources committee recently found £153 million was needed over the next five years to tackle the “history of under investment” in the authority’s estate, with work to get underway this year. By the end of January, a total of 154 properties had been checked by council officers, with 19 having been found as “having issues similar to those identified at Oxgangs School”, today’s report finds.

The school was one of 17 built as part of a public-private partnership (PPP) scheme by Edinburgh Schools Partnership.

But the faults were uncovered in buildings funded using traditional methods, as well as through PPP and the more recent non-profit distributing (NPD) model.

The report stressed the “need for councils to ensure that standards of quality and service” in building standards were maintained.

A council spokeswoman said: “The safety of the public is of utmost importance to the City of Edinburgh Council and we fully acknowledge the need for regular, comprehensive structural assessments of public buildings and are in the process of delivering a series of actions identified by Professor John Cole in an independent report into the closure of Edinburgh schools in 2016.” </s> Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Deaths confirmed in Lagos school collapse

At least 10 people have died and many more are feared trapped after a building containing a school collapsed in the Nigerian city of Lagos.

The school, which was on the top floor of the four-storey building in Ita Faji on Lagos Island, had more than 100 pupils, a rescue official told the BBC.

About 40 pupils had been pulled out alive, the official said.

The building had been identified as "distressed" and listed for demolition, Lagos building officials told the BBC.

The collapse happened at about 10:00 local time (09:00 GMT). There were frantic scenes at the site as rescuers and local men searched for survivors, and family members crowded the area in the hope of finding their loved ones alive.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Eyewitness says "everybody had to run for their lives"

The collapsed building was a residential block containing a number of apartments as well as the school, residents and rescue officials at the scene told the BBC.

Emergency teams pulled several injured pupils from the rubble, but many worried parents at the scene were unable to find their children, while others went to a local hospital to look for theirs.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption It Is not clear how many children remain trapped

Men from the local area were assisting rescuers but large crowds of people were hindering the rescue operation.

Mohammed Muftau, a local resident who witnessed the collapse, told the BBC that the building had been cracking for long time and that complaints had been raised about it.

The Lagos State Building Control Agency confirmed to the BBC that the building had been marked and listed for demolition. It is not unusual for buildings to collapse in Nigeria; materials are often sub-standard and the enforcement of regulations is lax.

In September 2014, 116 people died when a six-storey building collapsed in Lagos during a service given by a celebrity televangelist. And in 2016, more than 100 people died when the roof of a church in Uyo, in the south of Nigeria, caved in.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Rescuers were working frantically to free those trapped under the rubble

At the Lagos Island General Hospital, there was a scene of chaos as parents and family members scrambled after every ambulance that arrived to see if it contained a loved one. Many of the victims brought in were children in school uniforms.

Visiting the hospital, the Lagos state deputy governor, Idiat Oluranti Adebule, offered condolences to the families of the victims and called for calm.

"We plead for their understanding to allow the rescue team to do their work... so that the medical team can take prompt and immediate action as soon as the patients are brought in," she told the BBC.

President Muhammadu Buhari offered his condolences to the families of the victims.

"It touches one to lose precious lives in any kind of mishap, particularly those so young and tender," he said. "May God grant everyone affected by this sad incident fortitude and succour."

Are you in the area? If it is safe to do so please contact us by emailing haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk.

Please include a contact number if you are willing to speak to a BBC journalist. You can also contact us in the following ways: </s> Three young children aged three, five and ten were killed on Monday afternoon in Doornfontein, Joburg, after a wall in an abandoned warehouse building in which they were living collapsed. Picture: Nokuthula Mbatha/ANA

JOHANNESBURG - Joburg Mayor Herman Mashaba on Monday, said that the children killed in a wall collapse of an abandoned building in the inner city were playing when the accident happened.

Three young children died and two others were rushed to hospital on Monday after a wall in an abandoned warehouse building in which they were living collapsed around 12.30pm on the corner of Davis Street and Rockey Street in Doornfontein in downtown Johannesburg.

The three deceased were aged three, five and 10, while the two injured children were aged five and six. They were declared dead on the scene.

"Two girls ages three, five, and a 10 year-old boy were playing on the pavement outside the building when one of the walls collapsed on them. Fire fighters are still unclear of what caused the collapse but speculate that the lack of maintenance and aged structure of the building resulted in the collapse," Mashaba said.

"The building was occupied by mostly foreign nationals who had built shacks inside the premises. About 30 families have been safely removed from the building and the Department of Public Safety's Disaster Management team are assisting the displaced."

Mashaba, who extended his condolences to the families of the deceased children, said that firefighters will be knocking down the rest of the building to ensure that it does not collapse any further.

He added that there were far too many residents living in derelict and unsafe buildings and the slum-like conditions infringed on their right to dignity.

"Tragically, there are hundreds of derelict buildings in the inner city of Johannesburg. Some of these properties have been abandoned and owners cannot be traced. This makes it difficult, if not impossible, for the city to ensure compliance with applicable by-laws, which in turn contributes to the degradation of the urban environment," Mashaba said.

"On 26 February 2018, I wrote to the former minister of public works, Mr Nathi Nhleko, to request that an agreement be concluded with the department of public works, in which the department will name the city as its nominee for the transfer of these abandoned properties in Johannesburg.

"To date, I have not heard back from the former or current minister, Mr Thulas Nxesi."

Mashaba said that he had sent a follow-up letter to Nxesi on Monday morning before the tragedy, imploring that his department and the city work together in the best interests of residents.

ALSO READ: PICS: Three children killed after wall collapses in abandoned Joburg building

"It is vital that the different spheres of government work together with civil society and other stakeholders to ensure that we sustainably address the human crisis occurring in the inner city of Johannesburg. In doing so we can help to prevent such tragedies from reoccurring," Mashaba said.

Member of mayoral committee (MMC) for public safety, Michael Sun meanwhile, also said that he was aggrieved by the death of such innocent young lives.

"This incident is a devastating tragedy. Our Disaster Management team are on site and will be assisting the displaced with food, clothing, blankets and temporary accommodation," Sun said.

The owner of the building also arrived at the scene to see the damage and stated that the reason for the lack of maintenance was due to the dispute that has been going on regarding the rightful owner of the building. </s> A five-year-old girl has been rescued from the rubble of an eight-storey apartment building which collapsed in Istanbul.

Turkish officials said 10 people have died in the disaster in the Kartal district after the block came down around 4pm local time on Wednesday.

Another 13 people have been pulled out suffering injuries, including three who were seriously hurt.

Havva Tekgov, five, was rescued from the debris and placed on a stretcher 18 hours after the disaster.

As she was placed in an ambulance, a person in the crowd chanted "God is great" before the child was taken to hospital.

Her rescue came hours after a nine-year-old boy was pulled out alive.

Emergency teams worked around the clock in search of survivors after the collapse put the spotlight on illegal construction.

The tragedy also raised alarms over the possibility of major destruction if a large earthquake hit the city.

Istanbul governor Ali Yerlikaya said of the injured: "All our prayers, all our hearts are with them.

"We are continuing with our search and rescue efforts so that we can deliver good news (about survivors)."

At the time of the disaster, around 43 people were living in the building, which had 14 apartments.

Neighbour Cemile Dag said the collapse was a haunting reminder of the deadly earthquake that struck northwestern Turkey in 1999.

She said: "At first I thought a gas tank had exploded in our building. I looked behind me and the building, like a deck of cards, fell to the ground. There were wails, screaming."

Authorities said the top three floors had been illegally built and the cause of the collapse is still under investigation.

A majority of buildings in Istanbul are "either unlicensed, illegal or were constructed without any engineering services," according to the country's chamber of civil engineers.

Can Akin, of the Chamber of Geology Engineers, said many of the buildings were constructed without an adequate investigation of the ground conditions.

He said: "Istanbul is situated on a seismic belt.

"In the event of an earthquake in Istanbul, we could be faced with a dire picture."

It comes after Turkey's emergency management agency, AFAD, warned in August that up to 30,000 people could be killed in Istanbul if a magnitude-7.5 earthquake hit, with an estimated collapse of 44,802 buildings. </s> Mexico City — A Mexico City borough president said officials from a previous administration ignored warnings that unauthorized construction work on a school that collapsed during a powerful earthquake had hurt the building’s structural integrity.

Meanwhile the death toll from the magnitude 7.1 quake which hit Sept. 19 jumped by 10 to 355 on Friday, as the search continued for bodies in the debris of some downed buildings.

The school became a symbol of the tragedy when a three-story wing of the building pancaked, killing 26 people including 19 children. Photos over the years suggested an increasingly heavy fourth story had been gradually added to the wing.

Borough president Claudia Sheinbaum said late Thursday that inspectors issued a report in November 2013 and warned the borough’s judicial director at the time that work on the third floor and illegally added fourth floor were “damaging structural elements that affect the stability of the building.”

The privately operated elementary and middle school was apparently allowed to complete the work by paying a fine equivalent to about $1,600 at the time.

“The file was closed, with a fine of 21,000 pesos. Outrageous,” Sheinbaum said. She added that she has filed a criminal complaint against the former judicial director, a person who held the same post later and “whoever else may be responsible.”

Sheinbaum, who took office in 2015, had said earlier there was unauthorized expansion work at the school since around 2010.

Another borough closer to the city center also filed criminal complaints against two developers for two buildings that partially or completely collapsed, killing at least three people. The borough of Benito Juarez accused the two firms of having “used low-quality materials, lying and evading the law.”

One of the buildings was only about a year old and advertised its apartments as being structurally sound and quake-resistant. The other, a six story rental apartment building, was apparently built in the last year atop the unreinforced structure of a decades-old four-story building.

The vast majority of the collapses and deaths occurred in buildings constructed under looser regulations prior to a 1985 quake that killed thousands in Mexico City.

However the three buildings cited in the criminal complaints involved more recent construction. The school was started in 1983 but then expanded in the last decade.

Most of the rubble has been cleared away from the 38 sites where buildings collapsed in the capital, leaving only a few active recovery efforts.

National Civil Defense chief Luis Felipe Puente reported Friday on Twitter that the quake’s toll had risen to 355, including 214 dead in Mexico City.

There were also fatalities in the states of Morelos, Puebla, Mexico State, Guerrero and Oaxaca.

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A report into the partial collapse of an Edinburgh school reveals similar construction errors in nineteen other public buildings in the city.