Projected cost of new schools in Dunfermline rises by £1.6m
FIFE Council’s share of the bill for the Dunfermline Learning Campus has gone up by over £1.6 million.
The schools element of the project, replacement buildings for St Columba’s and Woodmill are due to open in August next year, is now set to cost more than £123.6m.
The campus will also house the new Fife College, which is not being funded by the council, and it’s set to cost £100m and should be ready for students in 2025.
At the cabinet committee last week, head of finance Elaine Muir gave an update on the council’s capital plan and explained: “There is an emerging overspend on the Dunfermline Learning Campus.
“This has resulted from an unsuccessful funding bid.
“However, this was a risk that was recognised at the outset when the business case was approved by the committee and there was a back-up plan to cover any shortfall in funding.”
The two new schools were initially set to cost £111m but in 2021 it went up by £11m to £122m.
Ms Muir said any shortfall would be met from the money set aside in the capital plan for education projects, which has £213m for the campus and a replacement for Inverkeithing
High School.
There are 30 major projects those that cost £5m and over - in the capital plan which has a total budget of almost £1.2 billion.
There is ‘slippage’ - when a project falls behind schedule - of more than £18m in this year’s programme but 94 per cent of investment should still be delivered.
There is slippage of £321,000 in the Inverkeithing Heritage Public Realm project, due to “delays from complex tenders at this site” and £270,000 at Dunfermline’s city centre gap site development, which is down to hold-ups in “finalising designs in order to minimise revenue costs”.
The Inverkeithing Community Hub project has also lagged behind, to the tune of £1m, which the report said related to “the wider discussion as to the scope” of the hub.
Ms Muir told the committee: “Whilst inflation is coming down it is still a significant factor in terms of our investment going forward.
“In general the economic conditions are still a serious cause for concern in the construction industry and also for tender prices.
“It’s something we’re continually keeping an eye on.”