New site move put on hold after costs soar

East Dunbartonshire Council wants to build an integrated accommodation centre and depot at Westerhill - saving around £800,000 a year.

However, it’s understood more peat was discovered in the grounds at Westershill Road - bumping up the cost by an extra £3.5million and delaying the project.

A report that went before councillors in June explained that “further site investigation and required remediation works on the proposed site resulted in a need to review the positioning of the land to accommodate the council’s facility, an estimated increase in costs of £3.5m, taking the overall budget at that time to an estimated £16.8m”.

The council has agreed not to proceed at this time to commit to a land deal to deliver the Westerhill facility.

Officers have been asked to undertake a further and full cost, benefit and risk analysis of the project and carry out an appraisal of available options and report back to the council.

The reported added: “The escalating costs and risks involved in the project including the timing implications of the proposed remediation process mean that the earliest delivery date for the project would be the autumn of 2015 rather than the previously projected timescale of late 2014.”

Thomas Glen, the council’s director of development and regeneration, said: “Discussions have been ongoing for some time with landowners at Westerhill as a potential option site given its designation as a strategic economic location within East Dunbartonshire, however, no decision on a preferred location has been made.

“Any decision will take account of site conditions, other development and build costs and these will be considered for any potential site.”

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