Watchdogs blame council for spiralling Bristol Beacon refurbishment costs

Independent watchdogs have blamed the city council for the Bristol Beacon refurbishment costs more than doubling.

Grant Thornton say the council “underestimated the complexity and difficulty” of the revamp of the concert hall formerly known as the Colston Hall and that its “failure” to have effective arrangements in place caused the bill to spiral from £52m to £107m.

The auditors’ assessment in their 2020/21 interim annual report, which has just been published, comes weeks after it was revealed the building is valued at zero pounds in Bristol City Council’s accounts and that the authority has already written off £39m on the project.

On-site investigations found the Victorian building’s structure to be a “worst-case scenario” which saw the council’s share of the bill spiral from £10m to £54.5m.

The additional funding was approved by the Labour cabinet in March 2021 with support from cross-party scrutiny councillors amid concerns about simply letting the historic venue “disintegrate”. in the city centre.

Two different types of brickwork will be a feature of the Bristol Beacon when its refurbished areas reopen – photo: Martin Booth

In its value-for-money report, presented to the council’s audit committee on Monday, Grant Thornton said: “The council underestimated the complexity and difficulty of the redevelopment of the Bristol Beacon and did not have effective arrangements in place throughout 2020/21.

“The failure to have effective management arrangements in place from the start of the project and to have any cost certainty before entering into the contract has resulted in delays and increased costs.

“The council has strengthened the management and project management arrangements for Bristol Beacon, but these new arrangements are not yet consistently applied across the council.”

Grant Thornton did not identify any “significant weaknesses” in the authority’s value-for-money arrangements in 2020/21 but identified 13 improvement recommendations, including taking steps to avoid a repeat of the Beacon financial calamity.

A new steel-framed roof was has been installed as part of Bristol Beacon’s refurbishment – photo: Wilmott Dixon

The renovation of the council’s freehold building began in 2018 and was originally estimated to take two years, the report said.

It said: “Prior to agreement of the contract, there had been limited exploration undertaken to understand the extent, scope and condition of the building.

“Bristol Beacon was a major arts venue and the intention was to minimise the length of time the venue was closed, and as a result the contract was agreed and the works began very shortly after closure.

“As a result the full extent of the work and costs was not known until the work had begun and been assessed in 2020/21.

“Under the contracts, all costs fell to the council and the volume and nature of the issues uncovered since work started on redevelopment have far outstripped the worst-case scenarios contemplated by the original calculations in 2018.”

Bristol Beacon is due to open its transformed spaces in 2023 – image: Bristol Beacon

A city council management comment in the report said that “a delivery framework has been developed and internally audited”.

“It has received a ‘reasonable’ assurance rating with the management action to implement across the whole capital portfolio, to move to ‘substantially’ assured.

“It is being used on all strategic partnership commissions and is currently being piloted in city transport with a view to full adoption by autumn 2022.”

It said a capital portfolio management office was being established to coordinate the adoption of the delivery framework and that “monthly board meetings and highlight reporting provides high quality corporate insight and grip on the project”.

Bristol City Council has been asked to comment further.

Adam Postans is a local democracy reporter for Bristol

Main photo: Martin Booth

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