Meeting of the Parliament 15 March 2016
Presiding Officer, I have a confession to make: I expected the Infrastructure and Capital Investment Committee’s investigation into the Forth bridge closure to be dull as ditch water and for us to plod through tiresome technicalities and meaningless minutes, but instead I found it riveting. My attention has been welded to the wonders of our wonderful bridges. I have become a bridge nerd. I can no longer look at or cross a bridge without pondering the mysteries of its construction. I have discovered that bridge building is neither science nor engineering but is in fact a form of art.
I pay tribute to all those who were engaged in the very quick and successful repairs to the Forth road bridge and to those who are involved in the construction of the Queensferry crossing. Such bridges are marvels of construction. They are not just fabrications of concrete and steel, but are living sculptures with the sublime utility of connecting people and places. They are not fixed and sterile edifices, but are dynamic systems, elegantly swaying under the loads that they bear and hosts to a whole community of engineers and technicians, who care for them and keep them pliable and supple.
I also pay tribute to our clerks and to our technical adviser, who cleverly and carefully guided us through what might have been a complex and confusing maze.
Of course, when the bridge was quickly closed in December after the discovery of the crack in the truss end link, Labour members sensed an electoral opportunity. With all the desperation of a drowning man, they would have been only too delighted to point the finger of blame, especially if it could be pointed at the Scottish Government. The committee indulged them only in as much as we looked for the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth.
Our inquiry, although short and focused, was exhaustive. We looked at every aspect of the bridge, pored over its plans and heard about its history; we talked to engineers and experts, board members and bridgemasters; and we examined the decking, the trusses and the truss end links.
We found out a lot about the bridge. We found that the Scottish Government had been unstinting when urgent repairs were called for. It got out its cheque book to pay £3.2 million for anchorage investigations. It got out its cheque book to pay £2 million for the cable band bolts. It did not get out its cheque book for the truss end links, because no one ever asked it to do so. The truss end links were never identified as an urgent priority; the truss end links were never identified as an urgent risk.
As the committee report says, the defect that led to the closure of the bridge was “unforeseen and unforeseeable”. It is worth repeating that the truss end links were never identified as an urgent risk. They were at number 5 on FETA’s list of priorities in its indicative capital plan—with the emphasis on “indicative”.
When consultants looked at the links, they identified the bracket welds as the weak point, but even that was not deemed to be an urgent priority. A pilot was instigated to replace the welds. That work was carried out only a few months ago, after Amey took over responsibility from FETA. No one knew that the truss end link pins had seized. They cannot be seen or inspected.
Truss end links are common in bridges across the world. Never before in any of those bridges—across the whole wide world—have truss end link pins seized.
The committee found that there was no fault or blame. Labour’s electoral hopes may have flowed under the bridge and out to sea, but there was no fault on the part of FETA, on the part of any of those who look after and operate the bridge or, indeed, on the part of the Scottish Government. On the contrary, bridge builders and operators across the world are full of praise for the speed and the technical ability of those who put right the defect in record time.
Our inquiry fully vindicated the Scottish Government’s decision to build the new Forth replacement crossing.
15:38