Heritage concerns hinder Tube PPP

Issues over heritage and changes to the scope of stations on the 30-year Tube PPP are partly to blame for the problems being encountered by infracos Tube Lines and Metronet on the station improvement elements of the contract.

Speaking at Civils 2006, Terry Morgan, chief executive officer of Tube Lines, told delegates that the Tube programme had cost "a lot, lot more" than it was first thought at the outset.

"We had underestimated the costs of heritage on the contract," he said. "If, for example, we have to take out a tile, our preference would be to replace all the tiles. However, we have to replace the tile, which involves sourcing the exact tile that might have been produced 30 years ago. This in itself can be costly as it takes time to source the tile."

Morgan added that the other issue was over the scope of station improvements and what different people regard as a refurbishment or a modernisation.

Metronet chief executive officer Andrew Lezala echoed the same concerns over heritage, which had not been scoped into the contract.

In one example he said the issue over heritage resulted in a six-month delay at Great Portland Street station, one of 150 stations it has to refurbish.

Lezala also added that the inability to properly survey the stations before taking on the contract meant that issues were only identified when the contract went live.

Hitting back at criticisms of Metronet's performance on the contract following the recent PPP arbiter's report, Lezala emphasised that it was spending £3m-a-day on improving London's "aging asset" as well as introducing new innovations to speed up improvements.

[Contract Journal, 06  December 2006, p 4]