26 Dec 2023
Could we be entering the end game for the completion of Jubilee Square? That is the feeling at the Civic Centre according to SADC leader Chris White.
He told the St Albans Times that the latest hold-up was a technical issue relating to the penthouses at the project.
“There is more nervousness now post-Grenfell about certain things and there’s been a query about whether a certain sort of bracket is appropriate. It’s quite an annoying thing really, but you know, everyone’s still on a learning curve there, so that’s all it is.
“The fins are going on at the moment, as you can see. We can’t hang around – we need Watford Community Housing to stay interested because they’re the chosen housing association therefore we want them to get St Albans people in there.”
Letting the commercial space is also crucial to the success of the project, as Cllr White revealed: “We’ve had some quite good advice, funnily enough, from Watford council and from the Local Economic Partnership about the sorts of estate agents we should be using, because we began to wonder whether anyone’s going to invest in commercial property.
“But equally if you want to attract people to work for you then having your headquarters in the middle of a vibrant town as opposed to a parking lot on an industrial estate your recruitment is a little easier, and we’re fairly certain there are people out there who would be keen to do that.
“So we haven’t abandoned the commercial side at all.” There are also various clauses within the contract relating to late finish, Cllr White explained: “They cut both ways, because there was going to be a green wall, but of course you can’t do that anymore post-Grenfell. So that was kind of the other way.”
He agreed that the handing over of the site would be a major sigh of relief in terms of the council’s finances, as the project had already cost £640,000 in lost revenue: “A major sigh of relief. Yeah, I think that’s appropriate. I think the situation will change in the medium term, and it’s a live news feed shall we say between me and the council’s officers as to when that happens.”
Although SADC has refused to reveal much about their contract with contractors Morgan Sindell for reasons of commercial confidentiality, Freedom of Information requests by the St Albans Times revealed it was a NEC4 Engineering and Construction Contract, which puts Morgan Sindell as the design and build main contractor with associated contract sum and programme.
SADC confirmed that there are delay damages included in the contract, there is no sectional completion agreement within the contract (so parts of the project cannot be handed over when completed) and there are no bonuses awarded for early completion. The council also said that Morgan Sindell was the only company to submit a tender for the works.
