Newcastle City Council is looking for a new contractor for a leisure centre that was due to be built by Willmott Dixon.<\/p>\n
In February, Willmott Dixon announced it had been appointed to develop the \u201cstate-of-the-art\u201d Outer West Leisure Centre in West Denton, then costed at \u00a326m.<\/p>\n
Willmott Dixon has carried out preconstruction and enabling works over the past few months, but the council revealed last week that it was seeking a new partner, as inflation has caused costs to increase by \u00a36m for the construction phase.<\/p>\n
The council stated that it will \u201cseek to reduce those costs with a new construction partner while working to maintain the quality of the facility\u201d.<\/p>\n
This will delay the opening of the leisure centre by six months, but the council said it \u201cremains absolutely committed\u201d to the project.<\/p>\n
Paula Maines, Newcastle\u2019s cabinet member for a resilient city, said: \u201cLike many infrastructure projects, our leisure centre and swimming pool in the Outer West has been impacted by external factors including inflation.\u201d<\/p>\n
She added: \u201cChange is necessary to reduce costs and bring them more in line with our budget. This delay inevitably means the centre will not be open by December 2024 as intended.\u201d<\/p>\n
The buildings on the site have been stripped out internally and are ready for demolition, Maines said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe will begin the process to appoint a new demolition contractor to demolish the buildings without delay so the new construction partner can come onto a site that is ready for preparation works and construction of a new facility,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Newcastle City Council is looking for a new contractor for a leisure centre that was due to be built by Willmott Dixon. In February, Willmott Dixon announced it had been appointed to develop the \u201cstate-of-the-art\u201d Outer West Leisure Centre in West Denton, then costed at \u00a326m. Willmott Dixon has carried out preconstruction and enabling works …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89657,"featured_media":486945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[558,546],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-486925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-contracts","category-willmott-dixon","editorial-leisure","editorial-north-east","editorial-willmott-dixon"],"yoast_head":"\n