Arbroath’s primary schools project has suffered another six-figure hike as a knock-on of the collapse of Dundee company Muirfield Construction.
Councillors will this afternoon learn that the £12 million scheme to deliver new primaries at Timmergreens and Warddykes has crept up by a further £347,000 close to 3%.
The timetable for the Hubco- procured project has also slipped slightly but Angus officials remain confident that Timmergreens will be completed by May next year and the first phase of Warddykes a month later.
Robertson Construction Group has now been appointed as the main contractor for the project following the Muirfield collapse in March, which saw the city firm plunge into administration with debts of almost £7m and the loss of hundreds of jobs.
Transforming Angus service manager Gordon Cargill’s report to today’s full meeting of Angus Council states: “The updated overall costs (gross) have increased by £347k, which equates to 2.7%.
“The increased costs can be identified as construction inflation, omissions by the original contractor and start-up inefficiencies due to the requirement to replace the contractor.”
The changes mean updated net capital costs of £11.281m, an increase of £281,000 from the last reported update to councillors.
Timmergreens pupils are expected to move into their new school as soon as possible after completion of the building.
The report adds: “Warddykes phase one to be completed by June 2016 to allow the school to move at the beginning of the summer holidays, with the second phase completed early November 2016.
“The second phase includes the demolition of the existing school building and by that time staff and pupils will be located in the new facility, which will be fully segregated to function safely until the entire project is completed.”
The detailed update has also come forward after Arbroath councillor Ewan Smith successfully pressed for any project increase of more than 1% to be reported publicly to elected members.
Earlier this year Mr Smith raised concerns over a “missing million” in the sums surrounding the Arbroath schools project, for which the initial indicative cost was a shade more than £10m.
The councillor said he was fully behind the plan to build the new schools but did not want funds earmarked for other Angus schools being used to meet rising costs on the Arbroath primaries project.