Council's plea over masonry care

Owners of pavement cafes in Edinburgh are to be urged to have the fabric of their properties inspected annually.

The city council is to send letters to 200 establishments asking proprietors to take care of the buildings.

The move follows the death in June 2000 of Australian waitress Christine Foster, who was hit by falling masonry while working at Ryan's Bar.

A fatal accident inquiry concluded that poor workmanship during a conversion project on the building had contributed to the two-feet long coping stones falling from a third-storey roof.

Miss Foster, 26, who was on a working holiday at the time, was serving at outdoor tables when she was struck by the blocks.

After the inquiry, her family said it was planning to launch a civil action against the liquidated contractor, McLaren Building Group, which carried out the faulty work in 1988.

The sheriff's recommendations included a call for the city council to carry out an immediate audit of buildings that could pose a risk to public safety.

Experts have argued that central Edinburgh is vulnerable to such incidents because of the high number of older premises there.

But conservationists say its a nationwide issue and that more effective laws are needed to enforce better standards.