The price of a council housing scheme has elevated by 60 per cent following the collapse of its fundamental contractor and the invention of “critical hidden defects”, an area authority has mentioned.
Adur District Council mentioned that the 49-flat scheme in Albion Road, Southwick, West Sussex, now stands at £19.6m, £7.4m above the unique £12.2m funds.
East Sussex-based Westridge Building started work on the seafront flats in March 2021 however went into administration in September 2023, blaming inflation, fixed-price contracts and provide chain insolvencies, amongst different points.
Substitute contractor Cheesmur took over the venture three months later. Though the scheme was about 90 per cent full, “plenty of critical hidden defects” had been solely uncovered when work restarted, together with “examples of substandard building work”, the council mentioned.
“Defective and incomplete cladding left behind by Westridge had allowed rain to leak in, inflicting intensive condensation and inside water injury throughout a number of flats,” the council mentioned.
“The important foul drainage connection alongside the A259 had not been accomplished, which required specialist tunnelling and a partial highway closure to repair.
“As well as, a number of different examples of substandard building work got here to gentle which meant objects needed to be eliminated and rectified.”
Earlier this 12 months, council chief Jeremy Gardner mentioned he was “appalled” that tenants couldn’t transfer into the brand new houses “due to shoddy building work and poor constructing design”.
The council mentioned that remedial works are actually beneath means, together with eradicating function columns permitting moisture into the constructing, changing sea-facing brickwork with rain-resistant bricks, rebuilding balconies on the southern facet as free-standing equivalents, and changing insulation and defective cavity trays.
“We’re working extremely onerous to get the primary tenants into their new houses as quickly as potential, however we can’t enable anybody to maneuver in till the constructing is formally signed off as fully completed, structurally sound and fully protected to occupy,” mentioned the council on its web site.
Potential tenants won’t obtain monetary compensation for the development delays resulting from customary council housing guidelines.
The council mentioned the scheme’s overspend is funded completely via the council’s inner Housing Income Account, together with £997,830 efficiently recovered from the insolvency insurance coverage bond. It added that it additionally safeguarded a £2.4m Houses England grant.
The council mentioned it can’t take authorized motion in opposition to Westridge’s subcontractors for any faulty work as a result of its contractual relationship was with Westridge solely.
It added {that a} formal “classes realized” evaluate is underway and its findings might be used to strengthen the native authority’s processes and enhance the administration of large-scale building dangers.
Westridge was liquidated in October 2025, with unsecured collectors receiving 12.76p per pound owed. Previous to its collapse the agency had posted turnover of £64m in its most up-to-date annual accounts to twenty-eight February 2022.
