From the Shropshire Star...

Deal for new arts venue

Shrewsbury’s new multi-million-pound theatre took a huge leap forward today after contractors signed a fixed-price deal to build the venue.

Construction giant Willmott Dixon is the company which will build the showpiece Theatre Severn, on the banks of the river in Frankwell. Work is expected to start on site at the end of this month or the start of November.

Council chiefs today said they were delighted with the deal, but remained tight-lipped over how much the contract is worth.

Culture and leisure portfolio holder Charles Armstrong today said the deal came within budget - £25 million - and said the agreement represented good value for money.

The agreement with Willmott Dixon means that the developer and not the taxpayer bears the cost of any overspend on the theatre project.

Autotyres, currently based on the Theatre Severn site, will move to its new base on Nettles Lane imminently, Mr Armstrong said.

“Negotiations had been going on since the beginning of the year and we wanted to make sure it was right.

“We were rushed into doing the sports village and it’s definitely very different from that.

“There is a programme of works and the contractor has to do it within that time or hit penalties.

“If the company has made a mistake in its pricing it bears the cost and not us, but I don’t think that will happen,” Mr Armstrong said.

He added: “It’s great to get the project under way and it means we can get on with the next stage, which is what we do with the Music Hall.”

Mr Armstrong said a design team had now been appointed to look into how the museums service can be transferred from its current base at Rowley’s House to Shrewsbury Music Hall.

Last month revised proposals for Shrewsbury’s new theatre and arts complex were approved.

But residents and councillors turned out to object to proposals.

Theatre Severn, including a main auditorium, studio space and dance studio, as well as cafes and bars, was granted planning permission in January.

But the plans for the site were amended, and so needed to go back before councillors.

Members voted to approve the plans on the grounds that noisy building work takes place only between 7.30am and 7pm, and starts at a later time on a Saturday, when it will continue only until 1pm.

Source

Good to see that they've agreed that any overspend will be payed by the developers, not the council.

Should be completed by the end of 2008 I reckon. Well, knowing how slow things take to build in Shrewsbury, the first half of 2009 is more likely.

Good news but there's no such thing as a free lunch. If the risk of overspend has been passed to the contractors they will have factored that into their pricing and charged more in the first place.