Almost 200 Angus Council staff are preparing to return to Forfar’s County Buildings, six months after the offices were closed due to major electrical problems.
The saga, which began with computer problems and missing emails, later sparked a criminal inquiry after a police probe suggested foul play may have been involved following reports that sockets were melting on the walls of the Market Street buildings.
The CID investigation related to specific incidents during the long-running problems, which began in February. Police inquiries are continuing. It is understood no one has been charged in connection with the investigation.
The local authority has confirmed that the offices are ready for almost 200 staff to move back into and that will be completed within the next few weeks.
The electrical faults first surfaced in February when emails to the planning service were disrupted. After failed attempts to solve the problems believed to relate to the power supply the council carried out a weekend shutdown of its electronic communications hub in March.
The issues, described at one point by council chief executive Richard Stiff as “a thorny problem,” continued to affect the building, which is occupied by other departments including environmental health.Fire alarmThe gremlins also led to repeated evacuations of County Buildings after the fire alarm in the buildings was triggered over a period of several weeks on occasion more than once a day. Firefighters responded to the emergency alerts but no incidences of fire were discovered in the buildings.
In mid-April the council decided to move staff out of the offices after it was reported that electrical sockets had melted on walls. Officials said the decision was taken on health and safety grounds after what the authority described as an escalation of the problems.
Workers were relocated to temporary offices at Orchardbank and also at Ravenswood in Forfar, and Brechin Business Centre, and have remained there since.
With County Buildings empty, experts got stuck into the task of tracking the source of the electrical problems. The situation took a sinister twist in May when it emerged the police had launched a criminal inquiry into the April incidents. Detectives became involved after an initial joint investigation involving police and Tayside Fire and Rescue indicated that the cause of those incidents may be suspicious.
A spokesman for Tayside Police said that inquiries were continuing. However, the council has now confirmed that a phased return of staff will begin at the end of the month.
“All of the necessary electrical work has been successfully completed,” a spokesman said. “While the building was empty the council took the opportunity to carry out some further work to upgrade some doors, emergency lighting and smoke detectors and this, too, has been completed.
“County Buildings was significantly disrupted while all of this work was under way, so it is now being thoroughly cleaned prior to the phased return of staff to the building. This managed return of all 175 staff from infrastructure services will be done between Monday, August 29, and Thursday, September 8.
“Every effort will be made to maintain services during the reoccupation of the building and a detailed schedule for the move will be publicised later this month.”
The cost of resolving the electrical issues and upgrading the offices has yet to be confirmed by the council.