Fire Door Replacement Programme Overspend

Only a few years ago Guildford Borough Council, self-reported themselves to the regulator for an overspend on a major contract. Will they do it again with reference to this one?

This year, they have overspent on a fire door replacement contract to the tune of £4m. The original cost of the contract awarded for this work was £2.5m, yet cost to date stands at £6.5m.

Councillor Julia McShane, Leader of the Council in a recent interview pledged she “will not rest” until residents have the best possible service after “decades of failure”. She delivered a passionate pledge to residents at a full Council meeting in July promising to fix what she described as “decades of failure” in the housing service.

Cllr McShane, also lead member for housing, made the statement as the council approved an additional £2.4 million to complete its fire door replacement programme on July 30. Just over 960 fire doors still need replacing across the borough’s housing stock, according to council documents.

The Liberal Democrat leader said the project had been hampered by years of neglect and poor record keeping under the previous Conservative council leadership.

 “The depth of their neglect of the housing service is such that it will take more time to find everything that needs to be put right,” Cllr McShane said.

“For as long as I have the privilege of being the lead member for housing, I will not rest until that task is completed and we have a housing service delivering the best possible service to the residents we serve.”

The remarks come after Guildford council revealed at least a £500k overspend on the fire door programme. Cllr McShane said this was caused by incomplete historic data around the number of fire doors which needed upgraded replacements and so underestimating the costs.

Council reports reveal £4.1 million has already been spent on the fire door replacement scheme – far above the original £2.5 million contract estimate. Although the council had budgeted £3.6 million.

The £2.4 million needed to finish the project is based on £800k already committed to orders being placed and manufactured, with £1.6 million is needed to replace all outstanding fire doors. Altogether, this brings the total cost of the programme to £6.5 million.

She accused the local Conservatives of trying to “divert attention” from the “mess they left behind”.

The fire safety door project is part of the council’s wider ‘improvement plan’ which includes reviewing all services for unresolved problems.