Newcastle City Council expects to sign a deal “shortly” with Morgan Sindall to replace Willmott Dixon on a long-delayed £34m leisure centre project in the city.
The local authority this week insisted that work on the West Denton scheme, initially due for completion over a year ago, would finally start on site this summer.
Willmott Dixon secured the Outer West leisure centre job in February 2023 through Pagabo’s Major Works Framework.
However, little over six months later, the council revealed that it was “seeking a new partner”, with the project forecast at £6m over its initial budget after enabling works finished.
In July 2024, the local authority said it had “appointed” Morgan Sindall to complete the job, and that work to prepare for construction would begin “in the next few weeks”.
A council spokesperson said this week: “We hope to sign contracts with our construction partner shortly so construction can begin on the building in the summer.
“We remain absolutely committed to delivering this exciting leisure centre and swimming pool complex for the city’s residents.”
Despite the cost and time increases, the spokesperson said the project was “progressing well”.
“Utilities such as gas, water and telecoms cables have been diverted around the site, and Northern Powergrid will be making changes to the electric supplies in the area soon,” they said.
“Old mine workings have been filled in with concrete to stabilise the site and work continues on the surface to level it in preparation for construction. Works to divert the site’s access road to the shopping centre will begin soon.”
The finished leisure centre will feature an eight-lane swimming pool, as well as a training pool, gym, library, sports hall, cafe and children’s play area.
Newcastle City Council received almost £20m in levelling-up funding from the previous Conservative government in 2021 to replace the former West Denton pool, which closed during the Covid-19 lockdowns and never reopened.
The cash was supposed to be spent by March 2024, and the deadline has been extended twice.
The council said last summer that “challenging economic conditions” had driven the overall cost of the leisure centre up from £26m to £34m.
When the firm was appointed last summer, Alex Isted, Morgan Sindall Construction area director for the North East and Cumbria, said: “We are delighted to see this project move forward and to be able to utilise our expertise in order to help Newcastle City Council overcome the difficult, nationwide challenges posed by historically high levels of inflation.”
A spokesperson for Willmott Dixon said at the time: “Our team worked closely with Newcastle City Council under a pre-construction services agreement (PCSA) to develop the first stage of this project and we really wanted to make it work given our strong presence in the region.
“However, with a rise in costs, we agreed that we couldn’t meet the council’s expectations for the leisure centre within the available budget. We therefore both decided to conclude our involvement at the end of the PCSA last year.”
Both contractors have been contacted for comment.