Meeting documents

1 THE ISSUE

1.1 The Council's external auditors, Price Waterhouse Coopers, had expressed concern to the Council in the later part of 2004 concerning the lack of progress that was being made with the project at that time as a result of ongoing disputes between the Bath Spa Project Managers (Gardner Theobald Management Services), the Designers (Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners) and the Main Contractor (Mowlems). It was, therefore, agreed that they would undertake a review of the project as part of their external audit responsibilities and in particular consider the plans to complete the scheme and the financial implications. The auditors report "Bath Spa Project - Position Statement as at 31^st January 2006" is appended.

2 RECOMMENDATION

3

FINANCIAL IMPLICATIONS

3.1 The financial position of the project has been reported separately to the Executive and Council.

4 THE REPORT

4.1 The report was made available to senior officers and relevant members of the Executive earlier in the year and has subsequently been formally presented to the Bath Spa Project Board.

4.2 The project has progressed since the auditors completed their review and in this respect it is relevant to note that some of the "future risks" identified by the auditors did materialise, but these have been successfully managed such that the revised completion date of 30^th April only slipped by 8 days to the 8^th May. However, costs in relation to the completion of the building to Practical Completion, lease finalisation with Thermae and in respect of Claims activities have continued to increase and will be the subject of a report to July Council

5 CONSULTATION

5.1 The Auditor and Council's Statutory Officers have been consulted in preparing this report and their comments are included.