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Bungling contracts double estate’s bill
Repairs costs set to rise
A BOTCHED building job on a Highgate housing estate could cost Camden Council up to £8 million – double the original bill, claim disgruntled residents.
Building contractors Makers, who were working on the Whittington estate in Highgate Newtown, were sacked by Camden Council on Friday following a series of delays and overspending on the budget.
Just three months ago Camden fired architectural consultants Sprunt, who put together the original tender and survey for the work that would have renovated the modernist housing estate.
And now with both the original builders and architects taken off the job, which started in 2003, residents say that the £4 million project will have to start from scratch.
Residents and tenants association chairman Fabian Watkinson, who met Town Hall director of housing Neil Litherland on Monday to discuss the work, which is a year behind schedule, said: “This is the worst possible outcome.
“They will need to do another survey right from scratch.”
Mr Watkinson, an architect who has lived on the estate for 12 years, has had scaffolding shrouding his home in darkness for nearly two years.
The estate, built in the early 1970s, has had problems with water leaking into an underground car park. One of the problems with the original survey was the low quality of water- proofing used, which meant paving had to be relaid six times.
Other works needed include replacing windows.
Mr Watkinson said: “They have not changed the management team at the Town Hall overseeing this work, who messed it up from the start.
“They can’t admit to making any mistakes as they are taking legal action, so to admit they might have had a hand in these faults would mean it could spoil their case.”
According to estate residents, other problems included the original survey that only looked at 19 per cent of the homes for 1,100 people on the estate.
Letters seen by the New Journal dating from August 2003, from resident and architect Declan McCafferty warned Camden Council the job could not be done as planned.
A council spokesman said Makers were sacked because of their ‘‘persistent failure to make progress with the work”.
However, the spokesman said they could not comment on how much the new work would cost.
The spokesman said new builders would be on site by January 2008.
A spokesman for Makers said: “We have been in discussions with Camden to come to a successful conclusion of this project and we still hope to do so.” |
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