Ysbyty Glan Clwyd's asbestos removal cost £60m extra, says Audit Wales

The health board said the urgency of the asbestos removal led to costs which were unforeseen at the outset of the project.

A seven-year hospital upgrade in north Wales cost £60m more than planned, according to an Audit Wales report.

The £171m asbestos removal and refurbishment work at Ysbyty Glan Clwyd, Denbighshire, was completed only a few months late.

But Wales' auditor general said the "very significant cost overrun" was avoidable.

Betsi Cadwaladr University Health Board accepted the costing was "overly optimistic".

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Following two asbestos-related incidents in 2010, the need for action to strip asbestos from Ysbyty Glan Clwyd became considerably more urgent, driven by statutory improvement notices issued by the Health and Safety Executive.

'Lessons learned'

In 2012 the Welsh Government agreed to give Betsi Cadwaladr health board funding of £110.4m to remove the asbestos and refurbish the hospital.

The process of stripping asbestos and removing around 300,000 tonnes of contaminated waste from the site was completed in 2019, only a few months later than scheduled, but at a cost of £170.8m.

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Auditor General, Adrian Crompton said: "This report demonstrates the fundamental importance of good governance and robust oversight of complex capital projects. Whilst the complex refurbishment has been delivered largely on time, the very significant cost overrun might well have been avoided if concerns about the original business case had been properly addressed at the outset."

He added: "The lessons learned by both the health board and the Welsh Government from this project are of relevance to all Welsh public bodies engaged in major capital programmes."

Mark Wilkinson, Betsi Cadwaladr's executive director of planning and performance, said: "The urgency at which we were required to begin construction work to meet the Health and Safety Executive's requirements, as well as the nature of removing asbestos from a live working environment, resulted in costs which were unforeseen at the outset of the project."