Work set to resume on multi-million pound education campus

Ted Peskett, local democracy reporter

Work will soon be able to resume on a multi-million pound education project in Cardiff, which was paused after the firm that was originally building it went into administration.

Cardiff Council announced that it has appointed Borley Engineering Services Ltd (BESL) as the interim principal contractor for its Fairwater Campus scheme.

By making this move, the council said it is ensuring work can restart on the site as quickly as possible whilst a tender exercise gets underway to select a replacement principal contractor to see the project through to its completion.

The local authority had not long been celebrating the topping out of the Fairwater Campus project when it was announced in September that ISG Construction Ltd was in trouble.

Fully committed

A Cardiff Council spokesperson said: “We are fully committed to ensuring the progress of the Fairwater Community Campus project and have put in place an arrangement that saves the supply chain.

“By selecting BESL as the interim emergency principal contractor, we will get workers back on site as soon as possible, ensure workers are paid for work done, minimise delays, keep costs down, protect jobs, and safeguard the supply chain while protecting the public investment that has already taken place in what is one of the UK’s largest education projects.

“This project is vital for the current and future generations of pupils in the three schools, and to the wider community, that will be utilising the new facilities on the campus, and we are dedicated to seeing it through to completion.”

Payments

As part of the arrangements with ISG’s administrator, Cardiff Council said it will appoint BESL on an emergency basis and will save jobs and protect completed work by making payments in excess of £7m to the existing subcontractors and suppliers for works already completed.

An updated timeline for the project published by the council shows that the site is now expected to be completed and ready for handover in early 2027.

The council previously said it expected the scheme to be completed by autumn 2026.

In its updated timeline, the council is also saying that a new main contractor could take over the project and recommence the remaining works in April 2025.

The £108m Fairwater Campus project is funded by Cardiff Council and the Welsh Government.

It will involve the construction of three new build schools for Cantonian High School, Riverbank School and Woodlands High School, all situated on a single site in Fairwater.