Contractor performance, site discoveries, and design and governance issues are the key reasons behind delays to the £30m redevelopment of Aberdeen Art Gallery, according to a report.
The report, prepared for Aberdeen City Council’s finance, policy and resources committee, also reveals that the project team was aware that the timetable was slipping back last January, but that “an opportunity to act” at that time was lost.
It has now set a deadline for construction to be complete by the end of March, due to “ongoing programme slippage”, with with the gallery now expected to reopen in late 2018 or early 2019. An opening date of late 2017 had been anticipated when the project began.
The main contractor, McLaughlin and Harvey, had been due to complete last May, but this was extended due to unspecified “discoveries” on site.
The council and the project manager, Faith & Gould, which was appointed in August, has already carried out a review of the programme and timescales, as well as working with the contractor to ensure “appropriate on-site leadership” is available to ensure the work is completed.
The committee met to consider options on mitigating the delay, including changes to the fit-out programme, on 6 December, but no decision was made.
Councillors also asked for more time to consider options for the redevelopment of the Aberdeen heritage site Provost Skene’s House. The completion of the project has also been delayed until at least January 2019 and it looks set to exceed its original budget of £1.9m.
It is not clear when the council will make a decision on the Aberdeen Art Gallery project, but a council spokesman said although it did not yet have exact programme dates, exhibitions such as The Vikings and Martin Parr are “most definitely still in our plans”.
Knock-on effect
The delays are expected to have an impact on the project’s total budget. It received £10m in Heritage Lottery Fund money and the council contributed £10m from its non-housing capital budget, which included a contingency that has already been swallowed up by the delays.
Plans to raise a further £10m are ongoing, with £3.35m achieved so far. The report says the committee has agreed to underwrite the remaining philanthropic and public fundraising campaign.
Financial issues will be ironed out at the council’s budget-setting meeting on 19 February.
In a statement, councillor Marie Boulton, culture lead for Aberdeen City Council, said high-level discussions for a revised schedule are ongoing.
“With any building of this age and complexity, there will always be complications that can impact on the programme, which has been the case with Aberdeen Art Gallery,” she added.
The V&A Museum of Design Dundee, which will open in the second half of the year, also ran into budget issues during its early stages. The Scottish government had to pledge an additional £10m to the project after it was revealed that the cost had risen from £45m to £80m as a result of a higher design specification.
Stephen Greenberg, the director and founder of exhibition specialists Metaphor, which worked on the new galleries at the National Museum of Scotland and on the redevelopment of Paisley Museum, says delays happen for “myriad reasons”.
“A lot depends on whether it is a new-build or a refurbishment, how adventurous the architect has been and if it is a tried-and-tested scheme with known parameters,” he says.
“Sometimes, it can simply be down to whether enough preparation was done. A huge amount of scheduling and planning is needed beforehand and, if that is done, many of the issues can be ironed out in advance. Successful projects are about good design and project management."
The report, prepared for Aberdeen City Council’s finance, policy and resources committee, also reveals that the project team was aware that the timetable was slipping back last January, but that “an opportunity to act” at that time was lost.
It has now set a deadline for construction to be complete by the end of March, due to “ongoing programme slippage”, with with the gallery now expected to reopen in late 2018 or early 2019. An opening date of late 2017 had been anticipated when the project began.
The main contractor, McLaughlin and Harvey, had been due to complete last May, but this was extended due to unspecified “discoveries” on site.
The council and the project manager, Faith & Gould, which was appointed in August, has already carried out a review of the programme and timescales, as well as working with the contractor to ensure “appropriate on-site leadership” is available to ensure the work is completed.
The committee met to consider options on mitigating the delay, including changes to the fit-out programme, on 6 December, but no decision was made.
Councillors also asked for more time to consider options for the redevelopment of the Aberdeen heritage site Provost Skene’s House. The completion of the project has also been delayed until at least January 2019 and it looks set to exceed its original budget of £1.9m.
It is not clear when the council will make a decision on the Aberdeen Art Gallery project, but a council spokesman said although it did not yet have exact programme dates, exhibitions such as The Vikings and Martin Parr are “most definitely still in our plans”.
Knock-on effect
The delays are expected to have an impact on the project’s total budget. It received £10m in Heritage Lottery Fund money and the council contributed £10m from its non-housing capital budget, which included a contingency that has already been swallowed up by the delays.
Plans to raise a further £10m are ongoing, with £3.35m achieved so far. The report says the committee has agreed to underwrite the remaining philanthropic and public fundraising campaign.
Financial issues will be ironed out at the council’s budget-setting meeting on 19 February.
In a statement, councillor Marie Boulton, culture lead for Aberdeen City Council, said high-level discussions for a revised schedule are ongoing.
“With any building of this age and complexity, there will always be complications that can impact on the programme, which has been the case with Aberdeen Art Gallery,” she added.
The V&A Museum of Design Dundee, which will open in the second half of the year, also ran into budget issues during its early stages. The Scottish government had to pledge an additional £10m to the project after it was revealed that the cost had risen from £45m to £80m as a result of a higher design specification.
Stephen Greenberg, the director and founder of exhibition specialists Metaphor, which worked on the new galleries at the National Museum of Scotland and on the redevelopment of Paisley Museum, says delays happen for “myriad reasons”.
“A lot depends on whether it is a new-build or a refurbishment, how adventurous the architect has been and if it is a tried-and-tested scheme with known parameters,” he says.
“Sometimes, it can simply be down to whether enough preparation was done. A huge amount of scheduling and planning is needed beforehand and, if that is done, many of the issues can be ironed out in advance. Successful projects are about good design and project management."