Talks on unfinished university site intensify as administrators step in
DISCUSSIONS over the completion of the £250m Ulster University site in Belfast are to be stepped up when administrators are appointed to a firm which had been building the campus.
Accountancy firm KPMG are expected to be appointed as administrators to four companies within Lagan Construction Group in court today.
The insolvency experts will get down to talks with potential funders and international building firm Somague over the site and how it’s to be completed.
Workers have downed tools on the building site, with one contractor dubbing the beleaguered site as “an embarrassment”.
Ulster University said it is talking to international firm Somague, Lagan Construction Group’s joint venture partner on the project, about completing the job.
But some in the industry have expressed doubts about Somague’s capability of completing the massive project and suggested that it will need a new joint venture partner.
Asked how close the project is to completion, a university spokeswoman last night said: “The university is consulting with Somague as necessary to progress delivery of the project.
“We await the formal appointment of an administrator to the relevant Lagan companies.
“The move into the new building in 2020 was based upon the latest agreed contractors programme and as any updates to timeframes are agreed we will make that information available.”
KPMG is being appointed to Lagan Construction Group Holdings, Lagan Construction Group, Lagan Building Contractors and Lagan Water. But another 26 companies within the group are not affected.
Announcing the plans to put the companies into administration last week, the company said parts of the group “had been significantly impacted upon by a number of factors within the civils and building divisions including delays in the commencement of new projects, protracted contractual disputes on some existing major projects and instability caused by a joint venture partner in Great Britain”.
Chairman Michael Lagan said: “It is with great sadness and reluctance that we have had to take this course of action.
“We have had long standing relationships with many of sub-contractors and suppliers.
“We hope that the process of administration will be smooth and that disruption to both projects and jobs will be minimal.”
Last month, the Belfast Telegraph revealed that disagreements over the site between the university and Lagan Somague could mean completion would be delayed until 2022.
Separately to the administration, Ulster University is taking High Court action against the Lagan Construction and Somague joint venture.
The university had said that construction work would finish in 2019, with a full teaching term starting in 2020. The first stage of the Ulster University Belfast site is already completed.