Dumfries and Galloway Council hopes to learn from project failures

A catalogue of issues were found at the DG1 leisure complex

A council which has suffered high profile problems with flagship building projects is being asked to assess its ability to avoid future setbacks.

The Dumfries and Galloway authority saw costs spiral with the repairs needed at its DG1 leisure complex.

Its £28m North West Campus schools campus was also shut for months on safety grounds.

It is now examining if it has sufficient controls in place to deliver buildings to time, cost and quality.

An independent investigation into its Dumfries leisure centre concluded it had never seen so many issues at one site.

The North West Community Campus had to close shortly after it opened

The North West Community Campus opened in August 2018 but was shut following a series of incidents - including a child being struck by a falling smart board.

It closed in September that year and pupils did not return until April 2019.

Now a report to councillors is to examine the risk management of major capital projects.

It warns that any failure to deliver a project on time and budget and to required standards carries a "significant reputational risk".

It can also have "negative financial impacts and an inability to deliver services to our communities".

The report outlines existing controls such as a programme management office to provide a "centre of expertise" and project boards set up for all major construction schemes.

It also details planned actions to make the system more robust in the face of construction inflation and challenges caused by contractor availability issues.

"Even on relatively large infrastructure projects subject to an open tender process, the number of bidding contractors has been limited," it warned.

Key appointments

Meet the buyer events are being planned for early this year to try address the problems.

However, it said that staff vacancies in the programme management office were proving difficult to fill.

It is having an effect on key projects including a Zero Waste plant, Stranraer marina and new school building plans in Dumfries.

Key appointments have recently been made and work is ongoing to recruit new staff.

In the meantime, the council's audit and scrutiny committee is being asked to decide if the existing efforts go far enough to protect it from projects running over time and budget.