Six hurt after scaffolding collapses at Liverpool JMU site

Sep 20 2007 By Mary Murtagh and Ben Turner

BUILDERS working on Liverpool John Moores University’s new £23.5m art and design academy fell 30ft when scaffolding collapsed.

Six men are in hospital today, one seriously hurt, after the scaffolding they were standing on fell as they layed a concrete floor

Five ambulances and two fire vehicles attended the scene at the junction of Duckinfield Street and Brownlow Hill, near the Metropolitan Cathedral.

Other workers tried to pull their screaming colleagues from the debris and wet concrete.

One suffered serious back injuries and is in a serious condition at the Royal hospital.

Five others with fall- related injuries are being treated for non life threatening injuries.

The men are believed to be from outside the Merseyside area.

One workman said: “I had only finished work an hour before when this happened.

“I’ve been up to the site this morning and it is all shut down.

“The guys who were injured are from places like Oldham and Bradford. They were pumping concrete for a new floor and it went from under them. Everyone was screaming and panicking.”

Firefighters spent two hours making the site safe until staff from the Health and Safety Executive arrived to start their investigation.

The building has been under construction for three months.

The five-floor academy is being built next to the Grade I listed Metropolitan Cathedral, on the site of the St Nicholas Centre, to house all the JMU’s art and design facilities under one roof.

But the plans caused controversy as it has involved the selling off of many key city centre buildings, including the art school attended by John Lennon.

Conservationists have raised concerns about the new building not being in keeping with the local area.

It was due to open next year.

A spokesman for the Health and Safety Executive said: “I can confirm we have been informed and now await further details from the emergency services.”

The Northants-based contractors MPB Structures Limited said it could not comment while investigations were ongoing.

This is the latest in a catalogue of incidents on Merseyside building sites .

In January a Polish workmen was killed when a crane crashed 120ft into a city centre building site between Seel Street and Colquitt Street.

Two months later father- of-two Keith Wharton was killed by a frame which fell from a crane at the Stackright Building Systems site on the Knowsley industrial estate.

On March 29 a man was killed when a crane toppled over at Wavertree Boulevard.