Sefton looking for third contractor for Southport events centre as Graham pulls out
The council is in talks with three firms about bringing forward the flagship Southport scheme after inflation pushed costs beyond the £73m budget.
Graham entered into a PCSA with Sefton Council for the Marine Lake Events Centre job in January, replacing Kier. However, the parties failed to reach an agreement on a price for the job – which features a 1,200-seat theatre, 2,400-capacity conference space – at RIBA stage four, prompting the contractor to walk away.
Sefton now expects to appoint a contractor for the job by next March.
A report to the council’s cabinet states that, despite efforts to value engineer the design to keep costs down without undermining the quality of the project, “unprecedented inflationary pressures” over recent years have caused the cost of the scheme to spiral.
Read the full report
Despite this, the council is determined not to scale back the project – which it claims could boost the local economy to the tune of £19m annually – and is prepared to provide the funding required to bridge the gap between the current budget and the final price agreed with a new contractor, the report states.
The council has committed to borrowing just shy of £20m for the project to date. The Southport MLEC will also benefit from £33m of Sefton’s £37.5m Town Deal.
A spokesperson for Sefton Council said: “We are concluding the Pre-Construction Services Agreement with Graham Construction and would like to extend our thanks for their work over the past nine months.
“Following on from the cabinet report, we will share further updates on the next stages of the project in due course.”
To lose one highly credible contractor looks like misfortune; to lose a second looks like the council has utterly unrealistic expectations about what it costs to deliver something like this. Sefton Council not covering itself in glory here.
By Anonymous
Inflation has not pushed costs beyond the budget. The scheme has not been designed, located nor managed to align with the budget. The professional fees spent to get to this stage must be 7-figures. Disgraceful.
By Anonymous
How can Sefton Council be taken seriously anymore. To have demolished what was a perfectly useful building without getting into contract with a tier one contractor is beyond belief. Now the residents of Southport are going to be left with a vacant unusable site while the council begs for or borrows money which by their historical performance takes years to bank. By their own admission this could be lost revenue to the town of £19M per year. What a complete shambles and waste of money once again. When are these people actually going to be held accountable?
By Anonymous
What a surprise!!!
By James Treadwell
I hear you Anon. It won’t be long before Sefton Council drop the entire scheme down the glory hole
By Anonymous
Any chance of sorting the pier and Victorian shelters out first!
By Anonymous
Not a good sign is it , and Southport really needs this to happen, needs direct rail links to London too.
By Anonymous
Heaven’s forbid Sefton council actually put something back into Southport they only know how to take out of Southport, you really can’t teach Stupid Sefton council……
By Anonymous
Annoying. But surely getting the pier open is much more urgent!
By Graham
I suppose some of that money might have gone towards the Bootle Strand shopping centres new project.
By Anonymous
And who is it that causes inflation? Government’s.
By Anonymous
What’s happening to the place other side of b and Ms on lord street anyone know please
By Anonymous
It would be remarkable if a council project could be delivered as talked up and for the benefit of those in Southport. The council so far has managed a self inflicted decline in the town
By John
Other contractors have walked away as well, not just these incumbents
By Anonymous
Sort the pier & victorian shelters first please.
By Anonymous
Another nail in southports coffin. Maybe a regeneration of the near empty buildings next door would help and of course the pier renovation. People aren’t coming to southport as the council is not providing tourism in the town, only beds for drunks and drug users.
By Chris
This won’t get built in its current format. The government taking back the grant funding is more likely. A spectacular failure by the consultant team to admit to reality – and to do it twice!
By Anonymous
Very please the council are backing this but it does make me laugh that they won’t cough up money to fix the pier yet will borrow a fortune for this.
By James
Nobody involved in this debacle comes out of it well. Lack of realism on the part of the Council and their advisors, and what has been the role of other funders such as the Combined Authority in allowing things to drift for so long that the scheme is now clearly unaffordable?
By Anonymous
Sadly this comes as no surprise.. Sefton Council are not capable of bringing this to fruition.. Southport can now expect a a small hut or maybe a big red and white ‘big top’ tent which will be handy for the circus that is Sefton Council. I do hope that the funds allocated to this development stay in Southport and are not squirreled away to pay for projects outside the town.
By G McCain
Predicted well before demolition of the complex that costs would spiral-some due to new foundation problems doubtless to be encountered (de-watering etc) – and why is old Casino and Hungry Horse all allowed to continue languishing empty and deteriorating when Hungry Horse wanted to renew?
By Anonymous
I was reading the other day that the council has not been able to contact the owners of the land to get permission to build. Something about a covenant which would need to be overridden. Compensation would have to be paid. I believe Nothing can go ahead until this is resolved. I would have expected this to have been sorted PRIOR to any work taking place? But what do I know !
By David Nugent
The reason for the failure of the previous theatre was that it was poorly managed.Second rate performers and shows will mean another catastrophe.
By Ernie Hurst
I can just imagine how many contractors will want to get involved with this job now!! Contractors are in business to deliver projects not enter into 9 months of a PCSA committing significant resources on something that is unviable. Meanwhile hundreds of thousands of pounds of tax payers cash is wasted on abortive design, surveys and investigations. Awful
By Phil Ingham
Oh stop it. Let’s just keep moaning about the pier instead.
By Benny
Why don’t you just finish the pier
By Anonymous
Bootle Strand project not going too well either I understand.
By Anonymous
Don’t blame the council, or maybe do for spending ridiculous fees on consultants who provide them with bad advice. Long have PQS firms been hugely under-estimating fees and giving their clients false hope.
By Realistic QS
I am sick of Sefton Council (Bootle) telling us in Southport what we must have without asking us first. There was nothing much wrong with the Theatre they knocked down. A few million would have been enough to repair the roof and ceiling and smarten up the interior. We are looking at 100million if it ever gets completed. What for, a few low level conferences and tribute bands. The old theatre was closed because it lost money. The business plan for the old theatre did not work, why should it work in a new theatre? The Atkinson Theatre on Lord Street is a success because it is the right size for the towns needs. The arrival of Arena’s killed large local theatres but Bootle Sefton wont admit this and are going to bankrupt us all
By Alan P
How much has the tax payer already paid for this project. Contractors should be taken to court when they pull out, if they haven’t completed their contract. Sefton council should take out an Insurance policy to cover the cost of contractors walking away. The council has to have some accountability to protect the hard earned money of the tax payer.
By Susan Parry