Woodlands Meed College delay: West Sussex County Council shares frustration at contractor's failure to finish building

The news about Woodlands Meed College proved to be yet another delay in a project that has taken 11 years to bring to fruition.

No new date has been set for the opening of the £21.6m college, with youngsters having to move back into the old college buildings which were due for demolition in October.

During a scrutiny committee meeting on Wednesday (September 13), Andrew Edwards, assistant director of property & assets, said: “This is as frustrating for us as it is parents and pupils and staff at Woodlands Meed.

“We want to get this building transferred across to the school but it has to go across in the right manner and in the right condition.”

Jacquie Russell, cabinet member for children & young people, learning & skills, told the meeting that it came to light in mid to late August that contractor ISG would not meet its deadline.

She denied that the council had been surprised by the failure, pointing out that she and Mr Edwards had visited the site in early August and been assured that things were on track.

Accusing ISG of being ‘inordinately slow’ when it came to confirming a new date for completion, Mrs Russell added: “It’s really imperative for the parents, for the children and the staff of the school that the next time we say it’s going to be finished it really is going to be finished and ready for them to move into.

“There may well be some external works that can be done around the movement of the school but the key for us is to make sure that the children can move into it when we say the contractor has said it will be ready for handover.”

Mr Edwards confirmed that the contract between ISG and the council included liquidated and ascertained damages clauses which covered any delay in delivering the school.

He told the meeting that ISG’s performance ‘fell off a cliff’ during the week before the council was advised that the deadline would not be met.

While unwilling to use it as justification for the failure to deliver, he added that the company had had supply chain issues around the availability of both labour and materials.

Both Mr Edwards and Mrs Russell said a new completion date would be announced as soon as possible.

Before that could be done, the council would need to ‘stress test’ any date given to ensure that ISG would be able to meet all the necessary milestones and not allow the date to slip again.