All Not Well At West London Free School
Here's an interesting FoI response - it appears that the builders on site at Palingswick House have found asbestos and an unspecified contaminant on the site, the latter a considerable distance underground.All of this explains why nothing's happening on site, why they missed the original September 2013 opening date, presumably why they've bought a second site on Bridge Avenue for £9.25m and why there are plans for a huge temporary building on the front of Palingswick House. The revised opening date is now September 2015.What's yet unclear is how much this is costing us. Toby Young, who's always so keen to advertise how his methods are much cheaper than the previous method of building schools, can presumably tell us. Would be good to know that. I'm sure the contract drawn up between one of the most careful, by the book building contractors in the business and a school trust run by a journalist with no relevant experience will protect the taxpayer's interest.[I have already FoI'd the DfE for the expenditure figures and they declined to tell me on cost grounds...]
Tom Barry ● 3968d0 Comments