CIT building was over budget and 16 months late

A COLLEGE building project went over budget by almost half and took almost twice as long as expected, a Comptroller and Auditor General (C&AG) probe has found.

The public funding watchdog audited the overrun on the administration building and student centre at Cork Institute of Technology, which were due to take 18 months to complete and cost €13.7 million. Instead, the project took 34 months up to completion and has so far cost €19.9m.

The delay factors included a need to divert live power cables and a water main for the project at CIT’s main campus in Bishopstown, changes to the foundation after variations in rock levels beneath the foundations were discovered, and the contractor’s difficulty finding suitably experienced bricklayers. Disputes arose over the delay costs and more than €900,000 of the €6.1m overrun was attributed to the cost of a conciliation process, although legal costs of up to €5.5m were avoided by not going to arbitration.