Men in poison mansion scare

Oct 3 2008 by Jenny Wood, Perthshire Advertiser Friday

RENOVATION of a multi-million-pound Perthshire mansion had to ground to a halt after several workers were struck down with suspected lead poisoning.

Some of the workers required hospital treatment and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has confirmed it had to step in to investigate what had gone catastrophically wrong at the baronial mansion of Findynate Estate near Strathtay.

Once one of the homes of under-fire Northern Rock chairman Matt Ridley, the family sold the estate last year to a Dutch construction mogul for a whopping £8million, double the asking price.

But recently construction staff, understood to be Eastern Europeans, fell ill while work was underway on an £800,000 spruce-up for the new owner of the sprawling Highland Perthshire estate.

A spokesman for HSE told the PA: “Work activities ceased while we carried out an investigation on the site.”

The HSE official went on to explain: “A number of construction workers appeared to have raised levels of lead absorption.

“They had been working with lead paint, a lot of it was used in the olden days, this led to the incident and work was stopped.

“We asked for a safe system of work to be put in place, that’s now in place and work can continue,” he added.

The Health and Safety Executive was on site yesterday briefing construction staff.

Despite being hailed as “a unique time capsule of the very best of Edwardian design”, virtually untouched since it was remodelled around 100 years ago and still containing historic features such as original William Morris wallpaper, it was announced last month Aberfeldy-based Blairish Restorations Limited won the £800,000 contract to “completely modernise and renovate” the category B-listed, 10-bedroomed property into a “state-of-the-art 21st century shooting lodge” for its new owner.

James Woolnough, managing director of Blairish Restorations, admitted he had been “gobsmacked” when his workers fell ill.

“This is a completely unique building, last decorated in 1907.

“Our guys were sanding down paint finishes and ingested the dust from the sandings. Unfortunately some became ill,” he explained.

“We stopped work until we could find out the full extent of the problem and how to deal with it.

“But all the guys affected are now back at work and we’re back up and running,” Mr Woolnough said.

Plans approved by Perth and Kinross Council earlier this year show new owners Volker Wessels intend to add en-suite facilities to the property’s bedrooms.

The 19th century mansion, which contained just three modest WCs and four bathrooms across three upper floors, is set to be transformed with 11 bedrooms, 10 shower-rooms each with a toilet on the upstairs floors and a further six bedrooms with one bathroom in the basement.

The ground floor would remain largely unchanged, with the exception of new electrical wiring and the old ‘smoking room’ converted into a snooker room.