CONSTRUCTION work at a controversial development in a conservation area of Glasgow's West End has been temporarily halted following council and residents' concerns over noise and safety.

Work has got underway by Westpoint Homes to build 19 flats on the site of a disused and now demolished gym near Queen Margaret Drive.

Those who live in neighbouring tenements say noise levels have been excessive and claim they were not pre-warned about the works. 

They have raised further concerns about safety, claiming the excavation work has led to vibrations being felt in their properties.

The development on Fergus Drive is close to a vacant site on Wilton Street which was the scene of a catastrophic tenement collapse around 13 years ago following work to create an underground car park.

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Glasgow City Council said it had received a “high number of complaints” about noise.
Environmental Health visited the site and said an issue with the excavation hitting rock had cause excessive noise and vibration. Work has now stopped and the council said it will continue to monitor the situation.

According to the developer Kibble Heights will be a mixture of two and three bedroom luxury apartments and penthouse suites.

One owner said: “It appears that they hit unexpected rock, but just carried on. Apart from the noise (especially bad when folks are working from home) there are concerns about damaging the nearby buildings from the vibrations. 

“If they hadn’t put in for such a big building, they wouldn’t have had to dig out the bank and put in the sheet piles. 

“Finally, we had no warning from the developers about the noise, or the half hour road closure that we had the other week, which meant no-one could leave Fergus Drive.”

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Another resident, Nick Higgins,  said: “Given the current context of Covid most neighbours are working from home so to experience 8 and a half hours of intermittent banging at noise levels in excess of 90 decibels, the owners have demonstrated scant regard for the health and well-being of the local community nor their livelihoods.

"Even more serious is the issue of safety.

"Only some 80 metres away from the site sits the empty plot where a full town house once stood that collapsed due to the disturbance of the buildings foundations by a previous developer.

"As the sheeting piling has now hit rock the vibrations within the two b listed villas only 15 metres away from the works were considerable and the continued sheet piling has only stopped because residents demanded a civil engineer visit the site to reassess the situation."

A spokesman for Westpoint Homes said it it was aware of the complaints and the relevant people had been informed and it would issue an update at the earliest opportunity.

Earlier this year residents staged a protest at the site amid fears work would disrupt birds nesting in trees which were being removed. The developers agreed to suspend work until August.

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A previous application at the site attracted 300 objections, mainly centred on the size of the building and residents have continued to oppose this plan.

A spokeswoman for Glasgow City Council said: “We received a high number of complaints yesterday (Wednesday) from residents in the area. Environmental Health visited the site  and spoke to the site manager.

“Unfortunately building works are inherently noisy however there was an issue yesterday when the pile driving operation hit bedrock and as a result caused excessive noise and vibration. 

“This operation has now ceased and we have advised the site manager to ensure that residents are advised of future works so they are aware of what’s happening and when.

“Environmental Health will continue to monitor the situation to ensure the impact is kept to a minimum.”