Asbestos halts play for Games development

Work has been put on hold at a site being developed for the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow after traces of asbestos were found.


Construction crews have been forced to down tools on the site of the news National Sports Arena and Velodrome which is being built next to the home ground of the city’s Celtic FC.

No construction has yet begun on the site and the traces of asbestos were found during ground works preparing the site for the buildings.

Glasgow City Council told edie that the quantities of asbestos that had been uncovered were ‘truly minute’ and that there was ‘absolutely no immediate health risk’.

“It must be emphasised that work on-site, absolutely correctly, has stopped as a precaution,” said a spokesperson for the council.

“There have been four previous soil investigations carried out by different environmental consultants on the site that found no asbestos contamination.”

She said that remediation was part of the planned development of the site.

“The National Sports Arena and Velodrome is being delivered in two phases,” said the spokeswoman.

“The first is an Enabling Works contract to prepare the site in advance of the Main Works contract to ensure any contamination from past uses can be dealt with.

“During this pre-construction phase to prepare the land on the site of the National Indoor Sports Arena, minute traces of asbestos were found buried in the ground in two locations. Work on the site has stopped as a precautionary measure.

“An investigation is currently taking place to establish what further remediation work will be necessary to allow work to restart. It is hoped that the preparatory work will begin again in around a fortnight, with some chance this could start before.”

Sam Bond

Action inspires action. Stay ahead of the curve with sustainability and energy newsletters from edie

Subscribe