Anxious Totty jilts Jarvis on PFI school

As the full extent of Jarvis’s financial woes were revealed last week (see below), the beleaguered support services player was struggling to move two major contracts forward after construction partners Totty and RG Carter turned their backs on the schemes.

Totty has walked off the Newsome Special School job in Huddersfield following Jarvis’s failure to agree the contract with the council.

Newsome is the first school of five in a £25m new build and refurbishment PFI deal Jarvis has with Kirklees Metropolitan Borough Council.

Totty had been carrying out remedial works on a separate contract for the council when it decided to take all tools, equipment and temporary accommodation off site after discovering that Jarvis had failed to sign off the contract with the council.

One source told CJ: "Totty was concerned that it wouldn’t be paid for any further work with Jarvis and decided to come off site. It had planned to carry on with the next stage of works, but realised that the negotiations over the signing of the contract with Jarvis could go on for weeks and that it would lose money with equipment standing idle."

Totty refused to comment.

Kirklees MBC appointed Jarvis at the end of last year despite internal concerns following the contractor’s performance on another £59m schools PFI for the council.

In a statement, the council said: "The signing of the contract and therefore the start of construction work is expected to be delayed by the current position. However, the council is committed to working with all parties to find a way through the current situation."

Meanwhile, Jarvis has still not secured a subcontractor on its £92m Norfolk Schools PFI following the breakdown of talks with RG Carter (CJ 23 June).

Jarvis had until the end of last month to find a suitable contractor or risk major delays to the start of the project.

In a statement, Norfolk County Council said: "The council is clearly very interested in the future of Jarvis and, in particular, of Jarvis Accommodation Services. The meeting [we had with Jarvis] was positive and, although there is more work to do to understand fully the impact of Jarvis’s [financial] announcement. We understand Jarvis is making good progress in its discussions with alternative contractors."