Work on construction of £108 million school might not be completed until 2027

Ted Peskett, local democracy reporter

Full-scale construction of a multi-million-pound education facility may not restart until March 2025 after the firm behind its construction collapsed.

Cardiff Council had not long been celebrating the topping out of the Fairwater Campus project when it was announced that ISG Construction Ltd was going into administration.

The local authority said it was now working on a plan to get work on £108m development up and running again as soon as possible.

Timeline

As part of its recent announcement the council has published an updated timeline for Fairwater Campus which shows that it might not be completed until 2027. The council previously said it expected it to be completed by autumn 2026.

In a statement issued on Thursday, October 17, Cardiff Council said it was working on an “urgent basis” to novate the existing contracts to a subcontractor that has been working on the project.

This would involve transferring subcontractor contracts from ISG Construction Ltd to the subcontractor.

Cardiff Council said the arrangement would be in place on an interim basis until a full tender process can be held to find a contractor to take over the whole site and see the project through to completion.

The re-tender, if all goes according to plan, is expected to commence early in November.

Progress

The council’s statement reads: “Doing this will allow the council to maintain progress on the project without an extended stop period.

“Not doing this would result in work stopping on site for an extended period while a full procurement process is carried out.

“It would also lead to the dissolution of the supply chain, job losses, longer delays, and likely significant cost increases.

“Despite the challenges the council is focused on finishing this important project.

“The new Fairwater Campus will offer high-quality educational facilities, benefiting our community.

“The campus will include state-of-the-art facilities for Cantonian High School, Riverbank School, and Woodlands High School, providing modern educational environments for students.”

As part of the Fairwater Campus development, Cardiff Cantonian High School, Riverbank School, and Woodlands School would all be located in the new buildings on site.

The project is being funded by Cardiff Council and the Welsh Government.

At a meeting on Thursday, October 17, Cardiff Council’s cabinet members agreed the proposed action to begin novating the existing ISG contracts and to commence a tender exercise for the remaining works to complete Fairwater Campus with the least possible disruption.

Cardiff Council said its first action from this point, beyond securing the building site, will be to employ the ISG site team on a short-term basis and open communications with the supply chain and administrators.

Contracts

The novation of the existing ISG contracts to a new partner and continuation of work on site with limited scope is expected to happen sometime between October and November 2024.

Tendering for the remaining works and selecting a new main contractor is anticipated to take place from November 2024 to March 2025.

Provided all of these steps are completed as expected the new main contractor could take over the project and full-scale construction could resume on site from March 2025.

Final inspections and handover is expected to happen in 2027.