William Penn - contract terminated

Three Rivers District Council has terminated the employment of Gee Construction Ltd, the main contractor for the William Penn Leisure Centre refurbishment. Cllr Chris Whately-Smith, Cabinet Member for leisure, said:

"We apologise for the delays and inconvenience which the users of the centre have suffered. We have tried to work with Gee but their inability to proceed is unacceptable. We have rejected their demands for more time and more money and have already deducted damages for late completion. We will robustly defend any action taken against us."

The refurbishment of William Penn leisure centre includes two brand new swimming pools, exercise studios and energy saving solar technology. The first phase of the project, a fully equipped 75 station fitness studio, opened successfully in December 2008.

The project, is now running 11 months behind schedule and the completion date continues to be thrown into doubt, with Three Rivers District Council (TRDC) blaming lead contractor Gee Construction Limited for the delays and threatening legal action.

Gee, however, has emphatically denied it was to blame. In a recent statement the company instead blamed council incompetence and a lack of effective leadership.

The statement read: “The termination [of the contract] is on the alleged grounds of our failure to proceed regularly and diligently with the works as well as a failure to comply with an Architect’s Instruction.

“Gee Construction Ltd has rejected both these allegations out of hand and will be seeking redress.

“The vast majority of problems on this project were outside of the control of Gee Construction Ltd.

“We note that key and substantial design information necessary to build this project is still outstanding some twelve months after the original completion date, despite repeated requests for information made to both client and employer’s agent.

“We believe that much of this information shortfall is a consequence of continued staff redeployments made by the multi-disciplined consultancy administering this Contract on behalf of the Employer.

“In the course of this project more than sixteen staff have moved off the project, ranging from architects to project managers, structural engineers to mechanical and electrical consultants.

“Furthermore we observe that the recent termination notice was served soon after Gee Construction Ltd advised the Client of our intention to adjudicate on our claim for extension of time.

“We would point out that the contract provides that a notice of determination of the contractor’s employment shall not be given unreasonably or vexatiously. Termination was not discussed before the notice was issued.”

Three Rivers District Council said this week it would continue work on the £4.6million project alone, hiring independent contractors to complete unfinished works. However with both parties threatening each other with legal action concerns are being heightened whether the swimming pool that local residents have long been waiting for, will ever come to fruition.

Local resident Mary Jaocbs said "I cannot believe how long this has taken. Since this project has started other local councils have started new projects and have completed them. I am fed up with the constant squabbling between the twp parties, I just want the pool back. If they are going to take legal action, who is going to pick up the costs?".

Hopefully things will move forward from this point, but we will continue to keep you updated.