Holyrood delays 'wasted up to £100m'

Building costs have continually risen

Up to £100m may have been "wasted" on the controversial Holyrood parliament because of delays to the project, it has emerged.

The Fraser Inquiry has heard hold-ups in design and construction programmes often meant workmen on site were doing nothing.

Counsel for the inquiry, John Campbell QC, said firms were paid extra cash each time there was a delay.

The new building is three years behind schedule with a price tag of £431m.

Mr Campbell said: "The public put out without the public getting anything back. There's no brick or toilet bowl, or flooring or carpet or desk. This is wasted money.

Over time you are looking at the wrong end of £100m John Campbell QC

"I'm just puzzled as to how the programmers and construction managers can get it apparently so seriously wrong.

"That's my judgement and may not be how it is viewed at the end of the day.

"Over time you are looking at the wrong end of £100m in the cost of prolongation, disruption and effectively wasted time."

The comments came as Mr Campbell quizzed senior project manager Paul Curran about the cost of delays.

Mr Curran said "delay, disruption and acceleration" had cost £67,000 a month per trade contractor between January 2003 and July 2004.

Bomb proofing

He said: "There may have been an opportunity to have considered some of them not being appointed.

"But whether that would have saved any significant sums of money is something we will never know."

But Mr Curran claimed that the £100m was not all down to cost of delays and some could be explained by bomb proofing measures introduced after the 11 September attack on the US.

I think there's a lot of challenges within the programme. It's going to be extremely tight Paul Curran Senior project manager

On his second appearance before the inquiry Mr Curran, who is on secondment to the project from international construction and management consultants Turner and Townsend, said nearly every trade package had increased in cost.

The inquiry saw figures showing that the client - the Scottish Parliament - ordered 116 changes between September 1999 and August 2002, although it considered making 178 alterations.

The contractors requested 10,200 changes linked to a range of issues including design, acceleration and timetables, although many of these involved more than one firm.

Mr Campbell asked Mr Curran whether he was "comfortable" with the latest programme which includes a completion date of this summer.

He laughed slightly and replied: "I think there's a lot of challenges within the programme. It's going to be extremely tight."