A local councillor has slammed the decision-making body behind the hotly-debated V&A museum.
West end councillor Fraser Macpherson has compared some of the decision making by Design Dundee Ltd an amalgamation of a number of groups including Dundee City Council and Abertay University to a “Carry On film”.
Mr Macpherson accused the think tank of making “very serious errors” and questioned whether or not the group should have any further part to play in the governance of the project.
He feels the results of this week’s McClelland report into the management of the building vindicate his views.
He said: “The McClelland report makes clear that a key role of the judging panel in determining the winning submission was cost and the ability of each design to be delivered for the £45 million target construction cost.
“The judging panel failed at the first hurdle in doing this. It now emerges that they chose a design that was 12% larger than in the design brief and that they somehow failed to grasp that this would have an effect on the cost of the finished project.
“Mr McClelland criticises the lack of cost management support and lack of technical support at the judging stage.
“This was a clear failing of Design Dundee Limited, who established the judging process and panel.
“This was not a judging panel of unqualified people. It included the Dean of a university School of Architecture, a senior planning and development chief officer and a regional operations director of the Scottish Government’s business and economic development delivery body.”
Mr Macpherson further accused the council of pulling the wool over locals’ eyes by refusing to disclose the true cost of the project.
He said: “Every time the project leaders were asked if the project was going to be delivered on budget, they played the game of “Carry on Regardless”, and trotted out reassurance after reassurance when they knew the £45m budget was never going to be met in a month of Sundays.”
In response to Mr Macpherson’s claims, a spokesperson for Dundee City Council said: “A report to the policy and resources committee recommended that comprehensive reports are submitted to the committee at key stages of the construction project. “
“Steps have been taken to further develop and improve the governance, monitoring, communication and project management arrangements for the V&A project.”