Construction work at Helensburgh’s new waterfront swimming pool could finally get under way this summer, it has been revealed.
A public question on the timescales for the £19.5m project was submitted by Dr Peter Brown, vice-chairman of Helensburgh Community Council, to Argyll and Bute Council’s Helensburgh and Lomond area committee today.
And project manager John Gordon said in response that the current plan is for the tendering process for the main works contract to be complete by June, with work starting as soon as possible after that.
No mention was made of whether there could be any further delays to the project as a result of the coronavirus outbreak.
Neither Dr Brown nor Mr Gordon were present at the meeting on Thursday, March 19, with a clerk reading out the question and response.
Dr Brown’s question read: “The council’s need to re-tender the waterfront has caused timelines to slip by a further six months, with a revised [completion] deadline of May 2022.
“In order to meet this deadline, can the committee confirm that by its June meeting, a full business case will be approved and a contractor appointed?
“Alternatively, if that is not the case, can you provide a revised timeline for these milestones and completion of the pool?”
The clerk then said on Mr Gordon’s behalf: “The current position is that we are in the process of evaluating submitted tenders in order that we can bring forward a full business case for approval by the relevant committees during June 2020.
“Construction work would then be planned to begin as soon as possible thereafter.”
The waterfront development was delayed after the tendering process was hit by a technical breach in July 2019, six months after planning permission was granted.
The new pool was originally scheduled to open next month – in 2017, when the cost was estimated at £17m, it was delayed for 12 months ‘to take account of further work that had been undertaken on the project since the wider project team was put in place’.
The current pool will not be closed and demolished until after the new facility is open and in use.
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