Ventilation at blaze home is criticised

Ventilation systems at a care home where 14 elderly ­residents died in a fire were badly designed, a building control expert has told the inquiry into the tragedy.

Thomas Sorbie, former chairman of the Institute of Building Control, admitted yesterday that inspectors failed to notice the faults, despite more than 20 visits to the Rosepark Care Home in Uddingston, before a blaze ripped through the complex in January 2004.

However, Sorbie said that staff shortages at the time when the home was built severely limited the hours they could spend on each project.

The hearing in Motherwell heard that the care home should have had devices to block off air ducts in the event of fire, stopping smoke and flames from spreading through the rooms.

But a report, compiled by Sorbie after the events of 2004, recorded: “The ventilation system is badly designed and installed. The installation, lacking the provision of fire dampers and fire-stopping, destroyed the integrity of the fire-resisting walls, floors and cavity barriers and removed the barriers to the spread of fire and smoke.”

Sorbie said it would have been reasonable for Hugh Gibb, the inspector who signed off a completion report on Rosepark, to have asked for roof panels to be moved so he could check ventilation. Such a decision would have been a matter of professional judgment, Sorbie added, and not absolutely necessary.

In fact, he said, the level of inspection afforded to Rosepark was more than adequate for building control purposes and possibly more than usual for a development of this nature.

The inquiry continues.