Bexhill Museum uncertainity

Rother cabinet members will decide on Monday whether they should continue with the scheme.

The situation has arisen after tenders received for construction work exceeded the available budget.

Officers have recommended building should go ahead, with the shortfall funded by underspend in the council's capital programme.

Even then the project is expected to have cut-backs in its build quality to reduce costs.

Cabinet have been asked to resolve the hiring of a contractor as a matter of urgency to avoid further inflationary costs.

The decision would normally have to be made at full council but the consent of the overview and scrutiny committee chairman is being sought to allow cabinet to act. The original budget for the scheme was 1,120,000.

Members had previously accepted a grant of 931,500 towards the project from the Heritage Lottery Fund.

The lowest tender came in at 1,320,236 with a construction time of 43 weeks.

However, all tenders came with 'qualifications' and with many cost elements outstanding.

Meetings took place between Rother and the lowest tenderer to establish the full cost and to reduce the funding gap through 'value-engineering exercises.'

The new figure was confirmed as 1,331,465

Director of services Tony Leonard said: "The tender evaluation and the value engineering work concluded that the total scope of the project is fundamental to the Heritage Lottery grant award so there is no opportunity to reduce the scale of the building work. However the value-engineering exercise has resulted in lower specifications for several aspects of the internal and external build quality. The results of this work have identified the funding gap to complete the project to appropriate standards and meet the desired project outcomes is 297,208."

Rother will continue to place bids for additional lottery funds in order to build the project to its original specifications, but officers have been advised such an award is "unlikely"

Mr Leonard will tell members there is the option to abandon the project and absorb the costs.

But he warns such a move would damage the council's relationship with voluntary organisations and Rother would be expected to reimburse costs incurred by the Society of Bexhill Museums and the Heritage Lottery Fund.

He said: "The Society of Bexhill Museums have spent 117,395 to date and nine years of their officers and volunteers time on the project. Local groups and individuals have also contributed about 60,000. To abandon the project at this stage would irretrievably damage the council's relationship with the Society of Bexhill Museums."