Norwich bus station where there have been problems with the roof leaking.Photo by Simon Finlay.

Solution sought for Norwich Bus Station roof problem

Dan Grimmer Tuesday, July 31, 2012
6:30 AM

Council bosses have admitted it will be “some time” before they get to the root of the problem which caused the roof at Norwich Bus Station to leak.

The £5m bus station opened seven years ago and was hailed as a state-of-the-art landmark for the city.

But in June water poured through the futuristic-style roof into the main building containing the ticket office, cafe and toilets.

Norfolk County Council had to get its contractors to replace the flexible roof with a corrugated steel sheet so the building could re-open.

But exactly what the problem with the flexible roof was - and who will have to pay for a long-term solution - remains unclear.

A county council spokesman said: “We are really pleased customers can enjoy the use of the facilities in the bus station building again, but it is likely to be some time before we are clear about what went wrong and reach agreement on how the cost should be met.

“With autumn approaching, our priority now is to find a long term solution, and we are actively investigating the options.”

Tracy Jessop, assistant director travel and transport at Norfolk County Council, previously said the council would look at whether there was scope for the cost of repairs to be covered by warranty or insurance.

The ticket office building had to shut for more than a month because of the leaky roof and the whole bus station had to close for a day to enable the short-term repairs to be carried out.

Ms Jessop had also warned there was likely to be further disruption when permanent repairs are done in the future.

The bus station was designed by NPS Property Consultants, an arms length company of the county council, with Bluestone the principal contractor.

6 comments

It looked good as an artist`s impression . Too clever by half ....If it had leaked initially , it would have been a design fault . So , something must have failed , perhaps the actual material used wasn`t up to the job ...... it`s a unique design , so there`s nothing to judge it by . I can`t see any roofing firm wanting to put their name to trying to fix it .It would be easier to take the whole roof off and put a conventional one in its place .

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dragonfly

Tuesday, July 31, 2012
worm, normal has been ditched for the new normal....the new normal doesn't do what it says on the tin( applied to everything what we once took for normal).

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nrg

Tuesday, July 31, 2012
just look at it!! what was wrong with a normal design?

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bookworm

Tuesday, July 31, 2012
maybe they could sell the switched-off self service ticket machines around the city they have left for tourists to keep trying to use . with that money they could fix the roof

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Double Bill

Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Is the self-licking lollipop award still on the NPS mantlepiece??? we should be told!!

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nrg

Tuesday, July 31, 2012
I hope they kept their ten year guarantee. Why is it householders manage to think about that sort of thing but when council projects are poorly quality controlled the councils expect us to foot the bill? I can't see what the roof keeps off anyway, too high to keep driving rain off and too high to provide shelter from wind, it is a poor excuse for a bus station.

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Daisy Roots

Tuesday, July 31, 2012