West Lothian community centre reopens a year late after RAAC repairs

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Livingston’s Lanthorn community centre has re-opened its doors - more than a year later than originally planned after initial refurbishment works left the building without a roof last winter.

But councillors will have to wait until next month to find out the cost of that year’s delay. West Lothian council ‘s property manager told this month’s meeting of the executive that the bill was being tallied up and would be made public.

The community centre closed in 2021 after RAAC was found in its roof. It had had been scheduled to reopen last January.

The Lanthorn centre in Livingston has finally reopenedThe Lanthorn centre in Livingston has finally reopened
The Lanthorn centre in Livingston has finally reopened | West Lothian Council

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The Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) revealed in the spring that contractors had stripped off RAAC panels in the autumn of 2023 and left the building open to the elements, causing widespread damaged New contractors were brought in to make good last year.

At the executive meeting, Councillor Willie Boyle asked: “What additional costs have been attributed to this delay?”

Property and Estates Manager David Baird told the meeting: “ We are awaiting the final accounts coming back in they should be back with us within the next month at the latest.”

He added that the council was now in a period where snagging work was made good and added: “We are pushing the contractor and quantity surveyors to tidy up accounts as quickly as we can.”

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The LDRS revealed in June that what started as straight-forward removal and replacement of RAAC roofing has become a major refurbishment of the entire building – potentially adding millions of pounds to the final bill.

A firm awarded a £2m contract in October 2022 were scheduled to have finished the work by January 2024.

The LDRS revealed that the firm was given an additional £450,000 to accelerate the works, but a new £1m contract was awarded to another firm to complete the refurbishment. An architectural services contract of more than £25,000 will run until April 2025.

It was claimed in June that the Lanthorn has become a money pit for the council.

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A source told the LDRS at that time: “It’s been a total waste of council money. They’ve basically done stuff back to front. They stripped the roof off in September and left it open to the elements. They didn’t make it watertight. The water was pouring in. It just beggars belief. There was crazy stuff being done. The Lanthorn now needs a total refurb they’ll probably not get change out of £4m.”

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