Wirral adds £8m to Birkenhead revamp budget
A report to the council’s policy & resources committee has confirmed that the likely final cost of the public realm and highways programme will be close to £24m, around double the original estimate.
As Place reported earlier this week, Wirral’s recently installed Leader, Cllr Paula Basnett, was present at a meeting of the economy, regeneration & housing committee last week when both the town centre programme and market relocation came under fire.
The highways project, which covers works on Grange Road, Conway Street and the Charing Cross junction, is now inked in for delivery a year late by main contractor Graham, meaning further issues for locals trying to navigate the town centre – the project is less than 50% complete.
The officers’ report to committee said: “The primary reasons for the delay with these works relate to design, both in terms of late design information being provided together with design issues such as the depth of construction and unknown statutory utility services equipment.
“A number of defects have been raised by the site supervisor, the contract team (Walker Sime) and the contractor (Graham) are working through these defects notices.
“Works are progressing, however, due to the issues there has been programme slippage which has taken the project to the accepted planned completion date of June 2026 (it is anticipated this date will be brought forward by the omit of St John Street & Catherine Street).”
To the consternation of councillors and residents, Wirral will have to find a way to pay for this. The report continued:
“The council have been alerted to the requirement to increase funding to meet the legal and contractual obligations with further meetings to follow to agree a revised overall project budget, this is due to an increasing risk of project time and cost overrun given there is over 50% of the project left to complete.
“There is a process being undertaken by Walker Sime to agree the extent of the programme delay associated with compensation events and evidencing the delay and associated costs. Spend profile to date indicates an estimated contract cost of £21m with the additional £3m anticipated for management fees.”
Given the type of contract and continual delays with design information, officers said, these costs will likely continue to rise.
On top of the original £11.9m allocated, an additional £4.75m has already been earmarked, said officers, adding that “an £8m projection is a fair reflection of the further pressure” – although it may yet be possible to reduce the value of some of the contractor claims.
Officers concluded that the additional funding requirement will be added to the programme as being financed by borrowing, although “all efforts will be made to reduce this borrowing requirement and utilise alternative financing if possible”.
Wirral’s policy & resources committee meets on 23 July.
You’d think Wirral Council had never run a project or resurfaced a footpath/roadway before.
Gobsmacking that they could be so disorganised not to share the information and specifications they did have in a timely fashion. A 2 year programme is a major risk to the businesses affected and to the business rates that the council collects.
They should have been working 10/12 hour days 7 days a week, from the outset, to get this project completed. A shame to lose the side streets, but credit to the council for showing flexibility to manage costs and prioritise key roads.
By Prince2
Impressive considering there’s never anyone working on them!
By Anonymous
“The primary reasons for the delay with these works relate to design, both in terms of late design information being provided together with design issues such as the depth of construction and unknown statutory utility services equipment.”
What type of construction contract was used? Design and build or traditional? Who are the Designers of this scheme? They need to be held accountable.
By Scott Chegg
Blind faith thinking the money spent on fees for a large corporate project team would see everything go smoothly. LCR based SME’s care more and have a greater sense of pride. It means less to PM’s of the type mentioned.
By Paul Francis