2 year Delay in Harris Academy Rebuild - Labour Offers Support to Speed Up Process

Commenting on the delayed time-scale for rebuilding Harris Academy in Dundee, three years later than forecast, as a result of the Scottish government direction that this contract is put through the East Central Territory Hub for procurement of schools and hospitals.

Seven months after the then Cabinet Secretary for Education and Lifelong Learning in the Scottish Government announced, that Harris Academy is to receive Government funding for it major refurbishment, I am concerned that we are now no closer to starting work on this major building contract in the city. The Chief Executive, David Dorward, yesterday clarified for me that the new organisation for procuring schools and hospitals will not be set up and ready to progress this contract until mid to late 2012.

“I would envisage that for the Company to be in a legal status that it could procure construction contracts may be during mid to late 2012.”

This means that work is unlikely to start on site at Harris Academy until financial year 2012/13 with a finish unlikely before early 2014. This delay will be disappointing news for parents, carers and teachers at Harris Academy and for the building industry in Dundee. Education Convener in the city. Elizabeth Fordyce, should be confident of my support for any reasonable way of speeding up the rebuilding of Harris Academy. I know that the council's financial contribution to the rebuilding works is already committed in its capital plan, so I hope she can find some way of bypassing this procedure that the SNP government in Holyrood has introduced.

Jim McGovern Labour's candidate for re-election in the Dundee West parliamentary constituency said:
“I know how many parents have been looking forward to the rebuilding of Harris Academy. This would mean that the school's facilities would match its proud history and reputation as one of the leading schools in Dundee. I also know we need more construction opportunities in the city. I would be delighted to provide my support to any efforts to make an earlier start to rebuilding works to make Harris Academy's facilities fit for 21^st century teaching and learning.”

Harris Academy Rebuilding To Be Procured by Hub

At the Policy & Resources Committee on Monday, the City Council approved a report recommending the council's participation in one of five Hubs being set up in Scotland for clusters of public bodies in Scotland to jointly procure new buildings, and run public facilities and services. Our cluster will include, for example, Tayside Health Board, Tayside Police and Angus Council. According to the Scottish Futures' Trust, "The hub model has been structured to give the potential to deliver a wide range of facilities to improve the provision of community services. Projects could include community health centres, dental surgeries, doctor surgeries, debt and citizens’ advice facilities, employment advice and a range of other community services, primary and secondary schools and police and fire service facilities." The council has been informed that the Hub will be the mechanism for procuring the rebuilding of Harris Academy. The original ministerial decision on the funding of Harris Academy was announced on 28 September 2009. While this means that the rebuilding of Harris will now progress, the next step may be delayed by the process of negotiating and setting up the Hub, which is essentially a new Joint Board, and then setting up an arms length development company, HubCo with a single preferred private sector developer.

At the meeting on Monday, I made the following contribution to the debate:

"Convener, I am delighted that the rebuilding of Harris Academy is a step closer. This is good news for parents, carers, teachers and pupils associated with Harris Academy. It is also good news for the building industry in Dundee. I hope that the contract to rebuild Harris Academy can be our Council's initial project to put through the procurement Hub. My welcome however is qualified by a number of concerns.

Firstly, the Hub is essentially a Joint Board on which two members of Council staff will sit with delgated authority. They and colleagues from the partner authorities and a private sector company will set up a HubCo. This seems to exclude the involvement of elected members and potentially might undermine democratic accountability and proper scrutiny.

Secondly, the HubCo will engage with one main private sector contractor. The scale of joint capital (building) projects under the auspices of the HubCo would seem likely to favour larger UK contractors and therefore exclude small and medium sized local contactors who are more likely to employ local building workers.

Thirdly, the projected savings of 1.5% need to be offset against the start up costs of £1.4 million. This would mean that savings to the public purse would only appear when the HubCo had progressed projects with an overall value in excess of £150 million.

Fourthly, the rebuilding of Harris Academy has already been subject to delays. It is disappointing to remember that in May 2007 the SNP promised in their manifesto to 'match labour's school building programme brick for brick'. Three years into an SNP minority led government at Holyrood, and not a single school in Dundee has been procured by the Scottish Future's Trust. This is compared with the Labour led adminstration's PPP programme that delivered two new secondary schools (St Pauls and Grove Acaedmy) and six new Primary Schools (Craigowl, St Andrew's, Downfield, Rowantree, Claypotts Castle and Fintry). I hope that a start on the rebuilding of Harris Academy can be made before the end of the financial year as programmed in the council's capital plan.