UHI House closed until January after water contamination found

A university building in Inverness which was shut following the identification of legionella in the water systems has been closed again until the new year.

The health studies centre UHI House recently reopened after a week of cleaning and disinfection.

Last month, the university said the precautionary closure followed the detection of the potentially harmful bacteria.

Dental and diabetic appointments have been disrupted at the facility, near Raigmore Hospital, which houses a number of tenants.

A spokesperson for the University of Highlands and Islands added that no other buildings on the Inverness Campus were affected. NHS Highland said it was working to find “practical solutions”.

“The safety and wellbeing of our patients and staff is our absolute priority,” said a statement from NHS Highland.

It said that due to “very stringent safety conditions” it had taken the added precaution of not returning most staff to the building when it reopened on 4 December.

“A small number of staff requiring access for essential works only did return, using the appropriate PPE in addition to control measures already put in place by UHI,” it added.

“Our teams are working at pace to find practical solutions to address the impact of the pause to our services between now and the new year, and we will provide updates to patients as soon as possible.”

A statement from UHI said that precautionary control measures remained in place and ongoing monitoring had identified “irregularities in water temperature control” which required further work to meet safety standards.

“We have therefore taken the decision to close the building to allow this work to be carried out thoroughly and safely,” it added.

“As UHI House is quieter at this time of year, this also helps minimise longer-term disruption.”