WIT sports complex set to run €4.3m over budget

A proposed sports complex for Waterford Institute of Technology could run over budget by €4.3m because of “inadequate leadership”, a lack of due diligence, and decisions that made “no sense”and which led to the project being suspended mid-construction, according to the former head of the company responsible for the project.

Construction of phase three of the project, which promised a sports hall, a laboratory and classroom wing, and a two-storey fitness centre, commenced in January 2012 but had stopped by the following September.

Eugene McKenna, former chief executive of WIT Diverse Campus Services, has claimed WIT’s attempts to consolidate the incorporated company as a subsidiary of the college directly led to the deferral of works on the Carriganore Sports Campus.

WIT reached agreement with Sisk, the construction company behind the project, to terminate the contract for the development in January 2013, with just 60% of works completed. WIT paid Sisk €7.3m to cover both works done and agreed penalties.

While the development was to cost an estimated €9.7m, the design team behind the campus estimate the final cost will increase to over €14m.

In a report he prepared for the Oireachtas Public Accounts Committee, Mr McKenna said that, in June 2012 he was informed that WIT and the Higher Education Authority decided to consolidate Diverse Campus Services into the college. The company was instructed not to draw down bank loans it had arranged to fund the project.

A guarantee of ringfenced funds issued by WIT to Sisk in September 2012 was withdrawn a month later, and in November Mr McKenna was told the consolidation process was to be stopped and that responsibility for the contract was to revert to Diverse Campus Services.

“There was inadequate leadership throughout the process,” Mr McKenna wrote of the consolidation process.

“In addition there was failure to respond or act on the concerns that were expressed prior to consolidation. The termination of Phase 3 of the Sports Campus Project in Jan 2013 was a result of these deficiencies. There was a number of potential solutions that could have been implemented to overcome the project funding issue; however, there was no meaningful attempt made to find a solution to the problem.”

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