Report critical of over-budget concert hall revamp

The final cost of the refurbishment was almost triple its original estimate

The revamp of a city centre concert hall was potentially doomed to run far over budget from the outset due to management concerns, a long-awaited report has found.

Auditors ordered Bristol City Council to investigate after blaming the local authority for Bristol Beacon's refurbishment costs almost tripling from £48m to £132m.

Two years ago, finance watchdog Grant Thornton told the council it had “underestimated the complexity and difficulty” of the revamp.

Now, independent consultants Arcadis has published its findings, heavily criticising the early days of the project.

'Problems ignored'

Arcadis' report said the council ignored problems flagged by contractors about the state of the building, creating a “them vs us” environment, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

It added that the risks of costs spiralling were not properly assessed from the beginning and there were no contingencies in place if more money was needed.

The complexity of the funding meant there was little flexibility for the council if changes were needed, the report said.

The consultants said issues were not fully understood or addressed until the authority established a project management office in January 2021 – almost three years after the original £48.8m budget had been agreed.

Just two months later, once the extent of the Victorian concert hall’s problems were known, this rocketed to £107m and later £132m.

Structure in 'poor condition'

The council has faced criticism that it should have carried out more detailed investigations of the building before putting public money at risk.

The Arcadis report said it was "common" in heritage buildings "to come across unforeseen works", which meant "detailed due diligence and investigations should be accommodated" to minimise risk.

The report continued: “We understand there was an awareness that the building fabric and structure were in poor condition and risks were raised during the pre-PMO phase that they may be in worse condition than initially assumed."

The report said the project board did not operate effectively during the scheme's early days

The report said the project board “was not operating effectively during the early stages of the project” and that senior officers did not have the time or capacity to provide sufficient oversight.

While not mentioning him by name, it said the situation did not improve until Stephen Peacock took charge.

The report said there was a “step change” from 2020 that created a “one team” approach but that the situation was very different before.

Complex and unpredictable

A spokesperson for Bristol City Council said they were "grateful" for the effort Arcadis had put into the review, adding it was clear that the project was "of huge scale and complexity, which experienced unpredictability throughout its lifetime".

They added that the recommendations would provide "valuable insight" for future projects, but said they only covered "part of the full story of the Beacon’s refurbishment".

“What falls outside the scope of this review is the impacts of multiple external factors including the global Covid pandemic and subsequent lockdowns, and social distancing measures," they said.

They added that the latter days of the project were affected by "substantial inflation of material and energy costs, as well as labour shortages".