Court refuses extra site hours on JLE

Aoki/Soletanche could face project over-run costs of more than œ2 million on its Jubilee Line Extension contract after failing to win a court's approval for an application to work an extra two hours a day on site.

The jv - carrying out the œ70 million contract 105 between London Bridge and Canada Water - wanted permission for the working day on site to run from 7am to 7pm. This move was opposed by Southwark Borough Council which favoured keeping hours to 8am-6pm because the project runs close to residential property - some flats are just 7m from its boundary fence.

In evidence put forward by Aoki/Soletanche's engineer, it was said that with the shorter working day, the project would finish 4-6 weeks behind schedule, the penalty in the contract for late completion being œ40,000 a day.

The jv would also have to stand the extra cost of the tunnel boring machine, a further œ40,000 a day.

But a Jubilee Line spokeswoman said: 'The contractor says he will finish on time and we have had no complaints about noise.'

Tony Garton, environmental protection officer at Southwark Borough Council, said: 'We agreed to a 7am-7pm working day for a seven-month period during the construction of the diaphragm wall, but the contractor has now moved on to a further phase, concreting the intermediate decks of the Bermondsey station structure.'

The authority has also approved exception days where a 10pm finish was permitted during a concrete pour.

All five Jubilee Line contracts in Southwark were drawn up without any reference to the local authority to see what working hours would be permitted.