The cost of extending Beaconside Primary School in Penrith has doubled with the project already starting to draw comparisons with the councils Voreda House refurbishment, where costs eventually spiralled to £8.9 million.
Council documents show the main construction work at Beaconside was originally expected to cost just over £1 million after the council awarded a design and build contract to Top Notch Contractors Ltd, on 23 April 2024, for a total sum of £1,081,857.20.
That figure has now risen to £2,505,681.95 million plus vat, with the overall project cost spiralling already beyond £3.1 million once design, surveys and other associated costs are included.
Council leaders have approved the increase in the contract costs, but the construction contract has not yet received final sign-off from the council’s portfolio director this is expected to be approved in the first week of the new year.
The council has said the increase in the contract costs follows detailed design work and updated construction prices, with officers saying early estimates no longer reflected the true scope or current market conditions of the existing school buildings.
Following surveys the council has said “it is apparent that there are inherent issues with the schools existing infrastructure and the fire alarm system requires upgrading and is the responsibility of the school to fund. However, the school will need to apply for funding from the DfES Schools Condition Allocation Fund through an annual funding round, of which the application process does not align with our programme”.
“As such, it has been agreed with the Service and Diocese that the WFC project budget will be used to underwrite the upgrade works with the expectation that the school apply for funding in November 2025 and reimburse the costs (£69,080.00) should funding be awarded”.
Should the school lot be awarded the funding by the DfES then Westmorland and Furness Council would have to either recover the cost from the school or write off the additional £69,080.
The situation drawn a close comparisons with the evolution of the councils Voreda House refurbishment, that has since its completion and a review of the project been cited by by the council as a learning exercise after its costs escalated to £8.9 million. At the time, the council said lessons had been learned around cost control, oversight and project planning.
With the Beaconside School project now seeing a similar pattern of spiralling costs at an early stage and other issues with the build been uncovered, just whether those lessons learned with Voreda House need a refresher class with the Beacon Side school project remain to be seen.
The expansion project is intended to increase capacity at Beaconside Primary School and provide additional specialist provision places, with most of the funding expected to come from developer contributions linked to housing developments in the area.
Despite the approval to double the contract costs by council leaders this week, uncertainty remains over whether the plans will proceed unchanged with this week announcement by the the council of a freeze on spending and a review of all contracts by a special panel of council officers along with starting voluntary redundancies to cut council costs as the council faces a budget deficit of millions.
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