It was announced at 0930 on Friday (19th February) that the planned tram infrastructure work on Princes Street – which was due to commence this weekend – cannot start. The shock announcement was made after the Edinburgh Tram Project were given just 48 hours notice that BSC (the consortium employed to bring the tram plan to life) wished to impose “unacceptable conditions as requirement to start in Princes Street”.
The utility diversion work is not affected by this news and this will continue as originally planned meaning diversion of traffic away from Princes Street was still due to commence at 0550 on Saturday 21st February.
The Edinburgh Tram Project have not as yet revealed what these “unacceptable conditions” were but it is reported in the Edinburgh Evening News that BSC have demanded an extra year to finish the work and for an extra £80 million.
BSC are said to be asking for the extra money and extension to the project after delays to the project since they were awarded the contract in May 2008. The contractors are blaming delays at Leith Walk and Gogarburn for their demands but inside sources have told the Edinburgh Evening News they believe it is centred on Princes Street.
Lawyers have been called in to try and solve the crisis to the project after a bid to renegitate the contract was turned down. A spokesman for BSC is quoted in the Edinburgh Evening News as saying tie have failed to meet contractually agreed conditions and work would not get underway until agreement is made on the extra costs.
A source said: “When the contract was originally signed, there were a huge number of unknown factors and things were rushed through. The £512 million cost of the project was the absolute bottom line, which relied on no problems being encountered. There have been delays with the utilities diversion contract, which should have been completed in November. Because of this, Bilfinger Berger will have incurred large extra set-up costs for the construction contract, and would have had workers and equipment waiting on site. It was only a fixed-price contract if the original timescales were adhered to."
A spokesman from BSC said: “As the client failed to meet contractually agreed conditions and as no agreement has been reached on the resulting additional costs, construction work in Princes Street cannot yet commence. Bilfinger Berger advised the client on several occasions work can only begin when the contractually agreed preliminary services have been completed."
It is planned that talks will resume on Monday (23rd February) between the Edinburgh Tram Project and the BSC consortium.
Source: Edinburgh Tram Project, The Scotsman & BBC News Online