Rebid for Tyneside libraries

Three firms are gearing up to rebid for a PFI library scheme on Tyneside after their original submissions came in “way above budget”.

Last year, Laing’s PFI subsidiary Equion, Japanese firm Kajima and Kier booked in for Newcastle City Council’s deal, initially worth £21m, to redevelop and relocate a total of four libraries.

According to a project insider: “The bids from all three contractors came in way above the value of PFI credits the council got for the scheme in 2003.”

The credits were later increased to £27m, but it is understood that “when proposals from the three shortlisted firms came in, it became clear there were insufficient PFI credits to provide the high-quality facilities required”.

Now the council has managed to squeeze another £13.2m out of the government, taking the total of credits to £40.2m. But even so, the scope of the scheme has been scaled down compared with the original brief.

Under the new plans, only the City and High Heaton libraries will be rebuilt, whereas the original deal also included redeveloping the Fenham Community and relocating the Fawdon libraries.

The latter two schemes are now included in a separate, £6.8m scheme, along with three other community libraries – the rebuilding of Dinnington and Newburn and a new library at Gosforth.

But the government refused to cough up for the separate bid and the official line now is that the council is currently “exploring other sources of funding for the work on these libraries”.