A report by the National Audit Office has found that the DTI's failure to correct design errors made by PFI suppliers Laing and Serco led to the government terminating the contract to build the £140m National Physical Laboratory.

In the report, the NAO criticises the DTI for failing to resolve its concerns with the design because it wanted to keep the cost of the building "unambiguously with the private sector".

The private sector parties also come in for criticism from the NAO for failing to test key features of the design before construction commenced and for being slow to heed concerns expressed by the Department's expert advisors.

The problems relate to the design and construction of 16 linked modules to house over 400 laboratories as part of the redevelopment of the National Physical Laboratory site. The report highlighted a series of failings with Laing's design including:

  • Inadequate temperature and humidity controls
  • Stringent requirements for sub-audible noise that were not met
  • Humidifiers installed incorrectly
  • Pipes used in process cooling that were susceptible to corrosion
  • Inadequate chiller capacity for air-conditioning and process cooling.
The report states that John Laing had seriously underestimated the cost of construction, losing £67m on the contract, and claimed that the facilities would have cost another £45m to complete.

John Laing confirmed it was having problems meeting specified environmental outputs with some of the M&E systems in 1999. The delay became progressive. Finally, the Department paid the termination sum of £75m on 20 December 2004 and the PFI contract was brought to an end with many problems still unresolved three years after it was due to be completed.

Source

Building Sustainable Design