Agenda item

Tristan Hall (Section Manager (Delivery Lead) Project & Programme Management) summarised that:  

·            The combined cycle/footway on St George’s Way was complete as well as some junction improvement works and carriageway resurfacing 

·            There had been issues around the Hello Fresh depot due to the unusual worker flows, but this was resolved 

·            The contractor experienced issues with the hard dig (encountering rock) whilst installinggabion walling near the rail station but this was resolved too 

·            Works to Bermuda bridge itself had progressed following a single lane configuration being set out on the A44 which allowed the contractor to jack up the bridge deck and replace the bearings which is a key part of refurbishing the bridge to make it suitable for traffic 

·            There were significant earthworks that have taken place on the approaches to Bermuda bridgeand the contractor has carried out some surfacing work on eastern approach  

·            Works to thegas barrier have taken longer than planned caused by the need to carry out significant site investigation work to determine the exact alignment and construction make-up of the gas barrier  

·            Thedesigner has committed to providing a revised design for the gas barrier extension works and the contractor will commence work in excavating the gas barrier and carrying out the remedial work required very soon. 

·            The delays mentioned in 1.7 had been agreed with the contractor, 1.8 covered issues that were ongoing and the impact of which still needed to be agreed 

·            Inflation was an issue with the project, work needed to be done to reduce costs and manage the budget within the allocated funds 

·            Due to the delays the expected completion date was now summer 2023 instead of the end of 2022 reported to OSC in September 2021. 

·            Work will continue with the designers to resolve site issues as they arise 

In response to Councillor Baxter-Payne, Tristan Hall stated that whilst there were issues that have arisen that could not have been anticipated when development started, there were other issues that have arisen that need to be investigated further with the project team and thethird-party designersso lessons can be learned.  

Councillor Baxter-Payne asked a supplementary question related to why hard dig (rock) was not anticipated when excavating for the new gabion walling, Tristan Hall said that the third-party designers of the scheme determined what ground investigation would be needed and this was providedto the contractor. Tristan Hall stated he has asked the third-party designers to provide a response as to why rock was not anticipated and will share this response with the committee when received.   

Councillor Sinclair suggested a report on the lessons learnt from this scheme internally and externally and bringing this to the committee when available. Scott Tompkins said they had started this and were happy to share it after the scheme had been implemented long enough for them to do a traffic survey to show the benefits of the scheme.  

Mark Ryder said this could be two pieces of work as the early construction could be shared before the lessons learnt. Councillor Baxter-Payne agreed to this because they needed to respond to questions from members of the public honestly.  

Councillor Wallace Redford (Portfolio Holder – Transport & Planning) noted that this report showed progress was being made on site to deliver the Bermuda Connectivity project. The new project manager agreed to provide weekly updates on the progress and issues arising from the project. A site visit had also been offered to the local members.  

The Chair requested that this weekly update be provided to all Nuneaton members instead of just the local ones. 

Tristan Hall added that the website also being updated so all members could check the progress. Scott Tompkins added that the website was primarily for members of the public to keep them informed of progress.  

In response to the Chair, Scott Tompkins said that the risk registers (historic and recent) would be shared with the local members after they had been screened due to ensure no commercially sensitive data was released. The Chair requested this be shared with all Nuneaton members too.