Strings of emails going back almost two years have revealed the calamitous scramble to save the William Wallace fountain at Union Terrace Gardens from “solid green gunge”.
The plinth surrounding the B-listed statue was installed as part of the overbudget £32.2 million refurbishment of the Victorian park.
But the water feature has been dry for many months, as Aberdeen City Council shambled to get staff trained to run and maintain it while fearing it could be a Petri dish of serious disease.
Freedom of Information requests have revealed a meandering, and sometimes snide, approach to its upkeep between different departments.
Read on for:
- Fears new water feature was a Legionella risk
- What’s this about gunge?
- What does the council’s environmental services team really think of other council colleagues?
- And the fountain supplier’s reaction to a charge of being “reluctant” to help
When was UTG fountain installed?
The renewed Union Terrace Gardens (UTG) reopened in December 2022, with the pandemic-impacted project years over time and millions over budget.
Despite it all costing at least £4m more than planned, issues at the William Wallace water feature emerged only three months later.
On March 14 2023, the council’s capital team raised the alarm. Staff names have been redacted by the local authority.
They said: “Just had a call from CCTV guys on site at UTG that there was water ‘gushing’ from the water feature plant room at Arches level which has flowed out onto the path and frozen.”
Replying seven hours later, the council’s main contractor Balfour Beatty said they weren’t there that day, so asked for a photo of where the water was coming from.
The firm’s rep then added: “I would note that there doesn’t appear to have been any maintenance or inspection on the plant room since handover which may have contributed to the problem.”
Enter stage: Aberdeen City Council’s parks team
Two days later, there was some inter-departmental exchanges over the already-troubled feature.
The council’s capital team approached their environmental services colleagues to ask about maintenance.
Staff at the Duthie Park Depot responded well into the next afternoon, on Friday March 17.
They came back saying they had not been involved in the UTG fountain… and asking who should be looking after it.
What happened next?
In late May, installer Fountains Direct met with Aberdeen council staff and Balfour Beatty to go through its operation and maintenance – and to explain why the UTG water feature was turning green.
“The main reason for the algae build up is the lack of chemicals for the treatment of the water,” they said, later adding: “There has been no treatment for a good few months.”
As the month ended, the parks team was speccing up kit needed to look after the fountain, just in case.
The parks boss was asked if they were confirmed to be taking responsibility for the water feature.
“To be honest I’m not 100% on this but, until I know for sure, then we need to look after it.
“Nobody seems to want to take responsibility for anything at the moment but as usual our team will step up and make sure things are looked after.”
Their colleague agreed, cattily: “Once again another job landed with us as no one else taking responsibility for the upkeep.”
It took until June 21 to order the required chemicals… But then until July 17 before environmental services were given a key to the plant room to use them.
For anyone keeping score, there were 126 days between water first flooding out of there and maintenance beginning.
Gunge fears emerge
On June 12, the glacial pace left one environmental services worker worrying the water would “turn into solid green gunge”.
And 15 days later, as they pondered why the fountain had turned itself off (a timer switch) they asked: “Would it have totally choked up and switched off automatically to save any further damage to pumps and filters?”
By August 7, the system had been flushed of algae twice… but nature was fighting back again.
Environmental services fumbled: “Should there be anything else needing done after chemicals have been topped up?
“I know after a few days of restarting the system, there would be a build up from the sumps, but we have cleared algae twice now.”
In-house, another round of sending the operation and maintenance manuals got under way that day, while a colleague reassured: “May just be the case of doing a few clean ups of algae until we have scooped most of it away.”
It wasn’t.
Legionella worries over Aberdeen’s new UTG fountainÂ
On August 17, it occurred to the council that the murky water being piped around could pose a serious health risk.
“Issues are that no chemical checks or testing for the likes of Legionella are being undertaken at UTG resulting in potential health and safety issues,” someone wrote.
The bacteria can cause Legionnaires’ disease, a potentially fatal form of pneumonia if breathed in with contaminated water.
“No regular testing or chemical treatment of the UTG ‘moon’ fountain has been allowed for or has been undertaken,” they added five days later.
“The installer [has provided] an annual cost of close to £23,000.”
Another nine days on, and environmental services sought help from the council’s Legionella officer.
In the meantime, a desperate scramble began within the environmental services department to understand what testing was being carried out on the fountains in the council’s 13 other public parks and gardens.
“I need to know what we should have in place for our fountains,” a panicked email says.
In the group chain, they tasked someone else with pulling together a list of all parks-dept-maintained water features – working or not – and what checks were being carried out.
A reply the next day warned the UTG fountain “will not be straightforward for us to take on and we should hold back if possible”.
So what training took place?
The panicked boss came back demanding to fully understand what they should have been doing in the city’s parks.
Did the Duthie Park ponds need checked? What about the Winter Gardens?
Meanwhile, after a chat on August 31, the Legionella officer declared: “This is something way above my team on a technical point”.
As the conversation died, the idea of staff training on maintenance and water treatment was raised, as those looking after the Marischal College fountain had gone through.
But that only added to hopes that it could become someone else’s problem…
“[Would others already being trained] remove the need for any of our team to be trained?” one email asked hopefully.
Had green algae cleared up as hoped?Â
Back to August 23, it was noted the green algae was “not clearing at all” before the water feature was scrubbed down and power-washed for the annual Wallace Ceremony that evening.
Environmental services commented: “Lots of grouting missing once water off, as per attached photos. More for the ever-growing snagging list.”
In a break-out email chain, they said that installer Fountains Direct had again been asked for help to make the machinery work.
Don’t worry, ACC… your secret’s safe with us
Around the same time, concerns over the grouting in the water feature were raised with Balfour Beatty, Aberdeen City Council’s main contractor on the UTG revamp.
Ahead of the inspection by sub-contractor Prime Pave, environmental services offered to drain the fountain and power wash it in the early hours to ensure it was free of algae.
But this was kiboshed by the council’s capital team: “Can we hang off with the please?
“It could come up that they think the power washing is displacing the mortar joints.
“I haven’t let on we’ve washed it before. Just want to keep us covered.”
The inspection was postponed for a couple of weeks anyway, by which time the fountain had begun its long dry spell…
‘Choked solid’
As September rolled in, the plant continued not to work and filters were “choked solid again”.
On September 11, water flooded out of the plant room into the park.
Three days later, the Duthie Park depot were again trying to reduce the risk by having the council facilities team take on responsibility.
Environmental services said: “I do have serious concerns with this remaining with us without properly trained staff.
“There are substantial high risks associated with this feature not being maintained properly such as E. coli etc.”
A deal was sounded out that staff at Duthie Park could take on the facilities department’s weeding, if only they could be freed of their Union Terrace Gardens fountain responsibilities.
‘We still have outstanding issues’
By mid-October, panic within the parks department was palpable at the prospect of being lumbered with the water feature.
“It’s getting closer to the end of month handover from Balfour Beatty to Aberdeen City Council and we still have outstanding issues to resolve.
“We still have the water feature switched off due to plant room flooding and the water pH reducing dosage system not working to clear algae.
“I’m sure there are still other issues that have slipped my mind at the moment.”
A colleague agreed the issues “really need to be resolved” but their request for an update was met with a void as the email chain died.
Does fountain have its own anti-freezing ‘additive’?
An entire month later on November, no closer to an answer, another thread from the environmental services depot began.
“What is the latest on the fountain? Are we still waiting on the contractor? Should it not be switched off until spring due to the weather?”
They were told most water features in Aberdeen were switched off over winter to preserve the pumps.
But, they were told: “I was under the impression that the UTG feature can be left on all year as it has an antifreeze additive included in water*.”
*We checked with Fountains Direct and… no, it doesn’t.
Parks staff in at the deep end…
At the end of April 2024, environmental services were none the wiser as to when the fountain should be switched back on.
“It will only be a matter of time before I’m asked,” one worker worried.
The next day they were told it was an “ongoing issue”.
And that was because it “turned out” staff operating the machinery did need to complete the £250 three-day course on swimming pool operation, suggested many months before.
“None of us have this certificate even though it was asked for at the time we took it over,” a colleague saltily said.
So can a private contractor help?
The discussion was then side-tracked by calls to get a private contractor to take on the daily, monthly and annual checks and maintenance.
Or, one parks team member suggested fobbing it off on the facilities team given their experience with the fountain outside Marischal College.
There was reluctance at the idea of outside help as it would leave environmental services “relying on others”.
“We all know the current challenge when we need other people to do things for us, both internal and external.
“This is my main frustration in the council.
“When we do things for ourselves we are very good at it.”
Aside from the lack of faith in others, they added their concern “has always been the cost”.
“£25,000 would put a fair dent in our budget for the gardens,” they added.
Fountain fitter ‘reluctant’ to come back to Aberdeen’s UTG water feature
The facilities team was approached to help start up the UTG water feature again for last summer.
But the Corporate Landlord office said they only carried out daily water tests and “wouldn’t know much about the UTG system”.
They bounced responsibility onto Fountains Direct, who had originally installed the water feature.
But the capital department weighed in a few days later, warning them off.
They said: “The installer was Fountains Direct but they’ve shown a real reluctance to come back up to Aberdeen.”
We asked Fountains Direct if they didn’t want to come to Aberdeen…
Reluctant?
Their contracts director Tom Roberts told us: “I’m a bit surprised at those emails. We would be very happy to take on the site.
“We are not reluctant to come back to Aberdeen… we are the only UK commercial water feature specialist with a dedicated Scottish office.
“As part of commissioning our fountains, we always include a training session on the feature and its general operation to end users.”
On the antifreeze, he added: “No. Water in circulation doesn’t freeze as quickly, especially with the chemicals it has in it to keep it clean – though that appears to be a challenge for the council just now.”
In-house UTG fountain maintenance ‘not same level’ as service offered for £23,000
“During our handful of visits we noticed while maintenance may have been carried out, it was not to the same level that we would have completed,” he added.
This led to Fountains Direct offering the council a weekly maintenance package in August 2023, which would have taken 90% of the burden off the reluctant council staff, and extend the warranty.
“I’m going to call them when we’re off the phone and speak to them about a maintenance package,” he told us.
Back on the timeline…
At the start of June, the fountain had been given a full clean and was due a final service before being switched on.
An environmental services boss told a Torry and Ferryhill councillor: “This is the first year we have had responsibility for the fountain and we did not get our timings quite right.
“Lesson learned for next year. The fountain will be in full operation throughout the summer.”
But… it wasn’t.
That same councillor – not named by Aberdeen City Council – asked about the fountain on August 22 (81 days later).
“Is there another issue?” they asked.
The councillor, who is likely council co-leader Christian Allard or his SNP colleague Lee Fairfull due to the wording of their email signature – was told work was still ongoing to de-gunk the system.
“We are hopeful that the challenges we have faced this year are now behind us,” it said.
“It has been a steep learning curve for the team and a frustrating stop/start year.
“But we have resolved most of the concerns and challenges now and we are in a good place for the future.”
What do you make of the saga? Let us know in our comments section below
When will the UTG fountain be switched on this year?
Emails from November show the fountain was still plagued with algae issues – and a lack of know-how.
It was shut off on November 4 ahead of a full-system flush hoped to clear the pipes.
The last email in the chain, once again, asked for the council staff in charge of the Marischal College fountain to come for a ride-along session.
“I would like confirmation by people who have worked those systems before that what we’re doing is accurate,” the troubled environmental services worker asked.
What did Aberdeen City Council say in response to our UTG water feature probe?
After reminding us that sometimes the weather is cold in April, an Aberdeen City Council spokeswoman said they now had a “full team trained on this”.
She said: “The fountain is switched off until spring, in line with the other fountains we look after in the city.
“It is regularly cleaned and washed out whether it is on or off.
“We have a responsibility to ensure any council spend is considered best value and appropriate.
“It is also important that the in-house team learn all they can about how the fountain operates and we now have a full team trained on this.
“We are as disappointed as anyone that the fountain was not running as it should have been in 2024 but lessons have been learned and we are in a good place for this year.”
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