T&T earned £2.1m on government lab job

Turner & Townsend made £2.1m in fees during its role in the construction of the troubled National Physical Laboratory PFI scheme in south west London, it emerged today.

A report released today by government spending watchdog the national audit office revealed the costs spent on advisors by the Department of Trade and Industry, a sponsor of the scheme, totalled £8m between 1998 and 2004. Engineering firm HDR charged £3.3m during the period.

The report found that Laser, the private sector consortium tasked with buidling the technically challenging scheme, lost £100m on the job due to its failure to hand over the scheme on time. The contract between Laser, which included contractor Laing, was terminated in December 2004 due to major defects in the scheme.

The report also found that remedial work on the scheme totalling £18m is due for completion in March 2007. This work is being overseen by project manager Bovis Lend Lease, which was appointed on the job in June 2005 following a competition. The work includes improving electricity supply and chilled water to the laboratories and constructing laboratories to comply with extremely stringent sub-audible noise requirements.

The report put forward 10 recommendations for future PFI schemes, including seven focusing on risk management.

For more on the NAO report see next week's edition of QS News.