nearthecastle
Warning: Exploding Slabs
Hmmm it's so hot the slabs are exploding in the Grassmarket.
And if you are interested - here's the story...
news.scotsman.com/scotland/Exploding-Grassmarket-slabs-ju...
Exploding Grassmarket slabs just couldn't stand the heat
Date: 11 June 2009
By MARK McLAUGHLIN
IT has taken almost a month of investigation by engineers but the mystery of the exploding Grassmarket pavement has finally been solved – it couldn't stand the heat.
Two slabs newly laid as part of the multi-million-pound revamp of the area cracked last month, with everything from a gas blast to an electrical fault being blamed.
Now experts have ruled that "thermal expansion", in the sweltering May heat of 16
was to blame for the Caithness slabs breaking.
They are confident, however, the problem was caused by a fault in two particular slabs and that the piazza should survive the summer unscathed.
City centre councillor Joanna Mowat said: "My sources tell me that it wasn't a mythological creature or some such thing that caused it. The answer was firmly in the realms of engineering.
"The council got an expert to look at it and he found that it wasn't an explosion underneath, but that it was due to thermal expansion.
"The heat causes the slabs to expand and the reason these two slabs had come up was because they were slightly flawed.
"I did initially find it hard to believe that this expansion could just affect two slabs, but I was assured that they were faulty.
"My immediate concern was that we were going to have stones erupting throughout the Grassmarket, but the project manager who assigned the expert to look at the slabs said it was isolated to these two stones."
A city council spokesman said that no other slabs in the area appeared to be affected.
He said: "(Engineers] did identify that there was something wrong with the thickness of the slabs. As you would expect, these slabs come under the influence of external forces, and as long as all of the slabs are of an even depth and width they can bear it, but if the slab is faulty and can't absorb that level of force it will 'pop'.
"They have identified these particular slabs as the only ones that are faulty.
"The contractors have accepted the liability for this and are making the necessary repairs at no extra cost to the council."
He added: "The contractor is currently on site carrying out the necessary remedial work. The area will reopen on Friday."
The area had been fenced off for the last month, to the annoyance of local traders who hoped that the workmen had gone for good when the £5 million revamp was completed in December.
Susie Christie, manager of Costume Ha Ha, whose shop stands close to where the slabs erupted, said the constant work has affected her trade.
She said: "Our recent footfall figures show that we were 40 per cent down last month, compared to the same period the year before.
"It's not been helped by the fact that there is currently refurbishment working going on in the building above us, and we're obscured by scaffolding.
"The work on the Grassmarket just seems never ending."
Warning: Exploding Slabs
Hmmm it's so hot the slabs are exploding in the Grassmarket.
And if you are interested - here's the story...
news.scotsman.com/scotland/Exploding-Grassmarket-slabs-ju...
Exploding Grassmarket slabs just couldn't stand the heat
Date: 11 June 2009
By MARK McLAUGHLIN
IT has taken almost a month of investigation by engineers but the mystery of the exploding Grassmarket pavement has finally been solved – it couldn't stand the heat.
Two slabs newly laid as part of the multi-million-pound revamp of the area cracked last month, with everything from a gas blast to an electrical fault being blamed.
Now experts have ruled that "thermal expansion", in the sweltering May heat of 16
was to blame for the Caithness slabs breaking.
They are confident, however, the problem was caused by a fault in two particular slabs and that the piazza should survive the summer unscathed.
City centre councillor Joanna Mowat said: "My sources tell me that it wasn't a mythological creature or some such thing that caused it. The answer was firmly in the realms of engineering.
"The council got an expert to look at it and he found that it wasn't an explosion underneath, but that it was due to thermal expansion.
"The heat causes the slabs to expand and the reason these two slabs had come up was because they were slightly flawed.
"I did initially find it hard to believe that this expansion could just affect two slabs, but I was assured that they were faulty.
"My immediate concern was that we were going to have stones erupting throughout the Grassmarket, but the project manager who assigned the expert to look at the slabs said it was isolated to these two stones."
A city council spokesman said that no other slabs in the area appeared to be affected.
He said: "(Engineers] did identify that there was something wrong with the thickness of the slabs. As you would expect, these slabs come under the influence of external forces, and as long as all of the slabs are of an even depth and width they can bear it, but if the slab is faulty and can't absorb that level of force it will 'pop'.
"They have identified these particular slabs as the only ones that are faulty.
"The contractors have accepted the liability for this and are making the necessary repairs at no extra cost to the council."
He added: "The contractor is currently on site carrying out the necessary remedial work. The area will reopen on Friday."
The area had been fenced off for the last month, to the annoyance of local traders who hoped that the workmen had gone for good when the £5 million revamp was completed in December.
Susie Christie, manager of Costume Ha Ha, whose shop stands close to where the slabs erupted, said the constant work has affected her trade.
She said: "Our recent footfall figures show that we were 40 per cent down last month, compared to the same period the year before.
"It's not been helped by the fact that there is currently refurbishment working going on in the building above us, and we're obscured by scaffolding.
"The work on the Grassmarket just seems never ending."