Project is saved after the collapse of Carillion
A HUGE project to build new college buildings and a council HQ - which stalled following the collapse of construction giant Carillion appears to have been saved.
Work on the second, £36m phase of the massive ‘Vision Tameside’ development in Ashton-under-Lyne stopped when the country’s biggest construction firm, which was acting as the main contractor, went into liquidation in January.
Construction of a new Advanced Skills Centre at Tameside College, and a joint public service centre for the council, was halted when the firm went bust. Buildings are half finished, with scaffolding and hoardings still surrounding them.
They are not yet weather-proof and if work doesn’t get going again soon, the structure could see ‘significant damage,’ town hall bosses say.
Tameside council has now entered into an eight-week ‘early works agreement’ with Robertson Construction Group. It is expected once that eight-week period is over, Robertson will step in to deliver the project’s second phase.
The priority is employing construction staff, getting subcontractors back on site and agreeing a new contract, council bosses say. All Carillion employees working on the project and still looking for jobs have been given roles by Robertson.
The eight weeks of work alone will cost more than £780,000, according to the council.
The new buildings sit beside Ashton Town Hall and the old water board offices. Council bosses say that as well as the extra costs, phase two of the project will also be delayed. It is now scheduled to be finished in November at the earliest. Phase one of the project, which was finished in 2016, saw the overhaul of a site in Ashton town centre for new teaching facilities for Clarendon Sixth Form College and the creation of an Advanced Technologies Centre for Tameside College on Stamford Street.
A town hall spokesman said: “Vision Tameside is a critical project in terms of improving life chances for young people and economic plans for the borough.”