Update from Lord Weir on Inquiry's hearings venue

I issued a public notice on 26th June 2026 (which had previously been intimated to our core participants), in which I set out the developments which had occurred since our procedural hearing in May relating to the issues which the Inquiry has faced and continues to face with obtaining a suitable venue in which to hold our section 1 public hearings. 

Those hearings have been scheduled for the 4 week period from the week commencing 7th September 2026. 

The issues which have arisen relate primarily to building safety concerns about our hearings venue at Waverley Gate in Edinburgh. 

In that notice, I committed to providing a further update at this point.

I am able to report that I have now been provided with more information by the Scottish Government about the steps which it intends to take to provide the Inquiry with a suitable venue to enable our planned section 1 hearings to take place. 

I now understand that the Scottish Government intends to seek to resolve the safety issue which has arisen by instructing a new lease to be entered into over the area used by the Inquiry within Waverley Gate, comprising our office space, the hearings venue and the corridor by which those spaces are accessed. 

I am told that the Scottish Government has been advised that this new arrangement should allow the necessary documentation to be issued by the City of Edinburgh Council certifying the property as safe for public use, without the need for any of the construction workswhich the Scottish Government had informed me would be necessary at the time of our procedural hearing in May. 

This new position on the part of the Scottish Government is based on their anticipation that the new occupancy arrangements, which will be reflected in the revised lease, will mean that the property will be assessed differently for buildings regulation purposes than it is currently. 

I have been provided with a detailed project plan which sets out the basis upon which the Scottish Government expects that all steps necessary to achieve this revised aim will be completed before our hearings commence in the week of 7th September 2026.

The position has been described by the head of the Scottish Government’s sponsor team as follows:

“An application will be made to the City of Edinburgh Council (CEC) by 10 July to request the necessary building warrant is issued…By 17 July (at the latest) we have been assured that the CEC processes will have concluded with a building warrant being issued thereafter. That progress and resolution is contingent on the quality of the application and that CEC is satisfied that all relevant data and features of the application are addressed as fully and comprehensively as possible. The dedicated architect who has been appointed to lead this work is in constant contact with CEC, thus ensuring that our planning assumptions are updated quickly.”

It is important to note that I have not received an assurance from the Scottish Government that the hearings will definitely be able to go ahead in September. 

That, as I understand it, is because parts of the plan which they have set out involve steps being taken by third parties, such as the landlord of the property and Edinburgh City Council, which are beyond their complete control. 

I understand, however, that commercial terms have been agreed relating to the new leasing arrangements, ministerial approval for the plan has been provided, and that the Scottish Government’s property advisors have taken what steps they reasonably can to justify their expectation that everything will go to plan. 

Against that background, I am satisfied that the update with which I have been provided constitutes a suitable basis upon which we can proceed with the Inquiry’s preparatory work on the assumption that the hearings will indeed go ahead in September.

The Inquiry team will continue to monitor progress against milestones which the Scottish Government has set out. If there is any material slippage from the expected timetable, explanations and immediate solutions will be sought.

In the meantime, I have instructed my team to make contact with the witnesses whom the Inquiry intends to call to give evidence at the section 1 hearings immediately so that a provisional timetable for the September hearings can be issued to core participants for their comment next week.

The Hon. Lord Weir

3 July 2026