Red alert over cost of £230m schools plan for 4,000 pupils

SIB member Duncan McCausland raised concerns over inflation costs

SIB member Duncan McCausland raised concerns over inflation costs

Ciaran O'Neill

November 06 2022 02:56 AM

A “red” warning has been placed on Northern Ireland’s largest ever schools project — meaning it needs immediate action to keep it on track.

Work on the Strule Shared Education Campus, which would see six schools built on a former military base in Omagh, Co Tyrone, began in 2013 and was due to be completed by 2020.

However, the project has been hit by a series of delays and the planned completion date has been pushed back to September 2026.

There is also concern at the rising cost of the campus. The initial budget was set at £169m, but with £45m already spent in site development work and a further £183m needed to complete the project, the final sum will come in at over £230m and could rise again.

The Strategic Investment Board (SIB), which is managing the project on behalf of the Department of Education, has therefore moved its status to red under the red-amber-green (RAG) system used in project management.

Red means attention is required right away, amber is more of a warning and green means a project is good to proceed.

Strule is the biggest school building project ever undertaken in Northern Ireland but Arvalee Special School, which opened in 2016, is the only one of the six to have been built.

More than 4,000 pupils are expected to move into the planned schools on the site of the former Lisanelly Army base.

Loreto Grammar School, Omagh High School, Sacred Heart College, Omagh Academy and Christian Brothers Grammar School are set to relocate to the campus alongside Arvalee School.

Minutes from the latest monthly SIB meeting reveal the concerns raised about the Strule project.

Board member Duncan McCausland asked in light of the “threat posed by construction cost inflation”, if it would be appropriate to move the RAG status of the Omagh campus from amber to red.

SIB chief executive officer Brett Hannam agreed with Mr McCausland’s suggestion and said cost inflation was a threat across the entire range of capital projects.

Mr Hannam spoke about the “difficulties” being caused across the board by “rapid increases and high volatility” in the cost of labour and materials. He said the situation “threatened” the affordability of specific projects such as the Strule campus.

A Department of Education spokesperson confirmed the RAG status for the project had been switched to red.

“Rapid increases and high volatility in the cost of labour and materials has led to significant cost inflation in construction projects across the board.

"As a result, the Department of Education’s operational delivery partner, the Strategic Investment Board, has changed its RAG status of the Strule Programme from amber to red,” said the spokesperson.

“This includes the costs of construction, including a contingency for construction price inflation, risk and optimism bias; staffing the programme; and other running costs, including support being provided to the schools for shared curricular development and implementation.

“Given the ongoing impact of construction price inflation, costs will continue to be kept under review.

“The Main Works procurement competition for the Strule Shared Education Campus is at tender assessment stage following completion of the tender period on September 26.

"Subject to all necessary approvals being in place and successful appointment of a main works contractor, campus opening is currently planned for September 2026.”

SDLP West Tyrone MLA Daniel McCrossan said he expected the final bill for the project to rise even further given the current problems with building costs.

“If a contractor cannot be appointed, we will see further delays,” he said.

“Young people in Omagh and west Tyrone need these new schools and facilities, and I will continue to press the minister until they are built and open.”