A £15m project to restore Rothesay Pavilion could be in limbo until October, a councillor overseeing the project has said.
The A-listed building on Bute was originally due to be open in July 2019 – it has been closed for more than seven years.
Gary Mulvaney, Argyll and Bute Council’s deputy leader, admitted it was ‘a great disappointment’ to all involved that the project was not yet complete.
Its previous contractor went into administration, and then liquidation, after the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
At a meeting of the full council on Thursday, Cllr George Freeman asked if Councillor Mulvaney could give an indication of when the project may be complete.
Although Cllr Mulvaney was unable to put a definitive date on when the project could next move forward, he expressed hope that some progress could be made by October.
He said: “It is a great disappointment to all of us in the chamber, who embarked on the Rothesay Pavilion project many years ago, that we have not been able to see completion.
“I am one of a number of policy leads that have led in this area and it is disappointing to end up in the current situation.
“However, we have had issues with the contractor going into liquidation, the Covid pandemic, and going out there trying to re-tender. It is not the easiest thing to do to come in and try to finish somebody else’s job, especially on a listed building.
“So I can only commend the team trying to re-tender the project. We are only too aware off the financial gap that exists and a lobby group, which has met on a number of occasions, is pulling forward a strategy.
“It is not a date or time, but I would like to think that certainly by October, we would be able to have a fairly firm steer, having spoken to everybody and somewhere along the line, the chequebook being opened by the Scottish Government or other bodies.
“It will be up to the new council to decide what they want to do to complete this project.”
Cllr Freeman responded: “It is disappointing that at this stage, we have no indication as to the potential timescale, and it will be October before we have that indication.
“I suggested in the past that this project should have been abandoned a long time ago.”
The Pavilion, which opened in 1938, is regarded as one of the finest examples in Scotland of the International Modernist style of architecture.
In 2020 the council was attacked for giving over £1m to the charity running the building, while cutting funds for an alcohol and drugs initiative.
The pavilion project has also received financial backing from the Scottish and UK governments, the National Lottery, the European Regional Development Fund and Historic Environment Scotland, as well as numerous smaller funders.
Compare with Helensbugh pier. Rothsay has a white elephant getting £15M and Helensburgh pier, one of the town’s main attractions, rots for lack of care.