ISG was unable to deliver a £21.6m university in West Sussex before the start of term due to labor supply issues, a council meeting has heard.
The contractor was due to deliver the 100-pupil Woodlands Meed College building for students with special educational needs in time for the start of the new academic year earlier this month, but ran into the term
The school’s facilities include a hydrotherapy pool, all-weather pitches, a multi-sports hall, spacious classrooms, outdoor play areas, a gymnasium and an amphitheater.
At a West Sussex County Council committee meeting last week, a council director alluded to the contract containing liquidated damages clauses, but said he could not specify them publicly.
It was learned at the meeting that the project was on target for August 25 and a contingency of a week later, but it is still not finished.
Andrew Edwards, director of property and assets at the local authority, said: “We were told in the week that they wouldn’t make it to the 31st, basically performance fell off a cliff. The targets they should have met they were not reached that week.
“The problem behind this is a well-documented problem in the construction industry [namely] supply chain issues, meaning availability of both labor and materials. In this case, I think it was a work issue. ISG had [then] flooded the place with manpower [to get the programme back on track] but there comes a point where you have parts falling on top of each other and stuff [not] in sequence.”
Jacquie Russell, the council’s cabinet member for learning, whose LinkedIn profile lists her as a former director of a construction project management company who is now a part-time property developer, said on August 2 he was told that the work would be finished. before August 25.
“I asked the contractor directly, ‘Do you think you’ll be ready in three weeks?’ And he looked at me hard and said, ‘Yes, we will, but if not, there will be a warning.’
“I know what a construction site can look like from one week to the next – it can look like a bomb hit it one week and it can be completely clear the next,” he said, commenting on the difficulty of judging the reliability of such a guarantee . .
No new date for the project’s completion has been announced, as Russell said the council needed to “stress test” ISG’s latest estimate before revealing it.
Russell added: “I believe the contractor’s response in terms of allowing us to confirm the new date has been unduly slow, and I am sorry that it is adding to the situation and the frustrations of parents and staff at Woodlands. Meed .”
ISG was appointed for the job through the Southern Construction Framework. Construction began in November 2021.
The contractor has been contacted for comment.
