2 weeks Ago
Delays to the opening of a state-of-the-art health centre are forecast to cost the council more than £45 million, after legionella was found in the water supply. Worthing Integrated Care Centre, built on what was formerly a council car park in Stoke Abbott Road, will provide GP, mental health, community and dentistry services under one roof as well as a pharmacy and additional services for families and young children. Back in February, traces of legionella bacteria were found in the building’s water supply .
The new NHS tenants are yet to transfer their services to the site and the bacteria is still being detected at the centre more than two months after the initial discovery. Worthing Borough Council is now bringing all of those involved - the NHS tenants, Galliford Try, WSWL and the council’s managing agent, Savills - together to encourage them to urgently find and agree a solution to the problem. That process is proving difficult to complete, despite the council "doing everything it can to safely speed activity up", a spokesman said.
In the meantime, the delay in the NHS move means that the new tenants are not yet paying rent for the building, leaving the council to meet the running costs. The council is also losing out on parking income because Sussex Community NHS Foundation Trust’s dental services are being run from temporary buildings in the Liverpool Gardens pay and display car park. In addition, as Worthing Medical Group has not moved into the centre yet, the council has had to pause its plans to convert the GP practices in Shelley Road and Heene Road into new council accommodation for Worthing residents with nowhere to live.
Planning work on the project began in 2017. The latest delay means the cost of the centre is now forecast to be more than £45 million, funded by borrowing by the council and which will need to be repaid with interest over the next 60 years. Key factors in this are a significant increase in construction costs nationally and an increase in the cost of borrowing, both of which are linked to the aftermath of the pandemic and the Ukraine war.
Once the building is operational, steps will be taken by the council to trigger the agreed process to recover losses. The neighbouring Civic Quarter multi-storey car park has opened and pharmacy group Paydens has moved into its new ground-floor unit in the building. It has a separate water supply to the NHS tenants which has not been affected by legionella.
The joint strategic committee of Adur and Worthing Councils will consider the latest update at its meeting on Thursday April 3 at Worthing Town Hall..
