Knowsley Council spent £660k on a project to remove two Huyton buildings after problems with the “structural integrity” of a wall separating one of the buildings from Huyton Library.
The situation came to light in a report about modifying the contract for the demolition of the Venue in Huyton and deconstruction of the nearby Yorkon building.
According to the delegated decision report by the head of assets at Knowsley Council, JP Tisdale Limited was awarded the Venue demolition contract last May at a cost of £412k.
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In September, a further £58k was approved, which included money for the deconstruction of the Yorkon building on Archway Road.
The work is part of the council’s ambitious Huyton Village regeneration scheme, with the removal of the buildings paving the way for future redevelopment as part of the town centre’s transformation – after being turned first into a temporary car park.
Work was then underway on the scheme when the contractors hit a problem while attempting to physically separate the Venue from its next door neighbour, Huyton Library.
It was at this point that contractors discovered a significant part of the building was “not constructed as previously advised by the Council’s appointed structural engineer.”
The problem lay in the “structural integrity” of the party wall that joined the two buildings. The report states that in order not to create substantial delays to the project, remedial work was instructed to be carried out by the contractor at an extra cost to Knowsley Council.
Other additional work was also carried out, including putting tarmac over the car park area and laying out the car park lines. This did not go through a standard contractual process because, according to the report, the council was worried about the “volatility of the construction market.”
The report states: “Therefore, to fix the price and prevent additional cost to the Council, the additional works were instructed prior to formal approvals being obtained due to insufficient time to obtain them in advance.”
The decision to approve the additional £65k was approved by the executive director of resources James Duncan last month, bringing the total cost of the project to £660K.
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