Dundee City Council legal advisors are refusing to say whether they can extract any compensation from the builders behind Dundee's crumbling Olympia leisure complex.
The complex was first opened to the public in June 2013 after it was constructed by building firm Mansell, owned by Balfour Beatty. A recess sub-committee on Wednesday green-lit more than £6.1 million of public funds to spend on essential repairs at the centre, located in the heart of the city.
Dundee Live has previously revealed that the original £4.5m cost of repairs has cancelled out any savings the local authority made by choosing the cheapest possible building contract.
Although the repairs will proceed, the project has also been remitted for scrutiny to clearly identify why the repairs have jumped in cost. Labour councillor Kevin Keenan had asked: “What is the legal position to know about the case against the developer?”
Roger Mennie, head of democratic and legal services at the council, said: “I have separately given to all members of the council…I’m not in a position to explain what this (legal) advice was.”
This was picked up by Georgia Cruickshank, another Labour councillor, who queried the response. She asked: “Can the legal officer confirm if any costs may be obtained from the contractor?”
Mennie again referred to the previous legal basis. Cruickshank persisted: “Do we not think it’s in the public interest?”
At this time, SNP committee convener, Willie Sawers, sought to clarify the situation. He said: “There’s always a conflict of interest in giving legal advice.”
Balfour Beatty has so far declined to comment on the issues at the Olympia. In recent weeks there have been angry calls from Dundonians for the building to be torn down and rebuilt.
The council’s head of design and property, Neil Martin, reported at the recess sub-committee this would cost even more under current economic conditions.
He said: “We’ve done research on other previous builds…in rough terms, UK construction costs have multiplied by a factor of three. To rebuild would cost £80-£90 million.”
The original construction bill was £31.5 million. Councillors sought answers to resident’s concerns.
“How did this happen and who is to blame? It should go to scrutiny; that’s the decision to make,” said Labour councillor, Helen Wright. Cllr Keenan voiced doubts about the caretaking of the premises.
He said: “It should have been maintained under construction, design and maintenance regulations. It appears many things lapsed. We’ve let the building lapse considerably.”
But Robin Presswood, executive director of development at Dundee House responded: “The average spend on annual maintenance (at the Olympia) is £200,000 per year. This shows considerable maintenance expenditure.”
The £6.1million has been sourced from the council’s budget for health, care and wellbeing, the renewal and repair fund and Covid-19 contingency funding.
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