Woodlands Primary in Gillingham

A catalogue of errors in building an extension at a popular school has cost Medway taxpayers thousands of pounds, a report reveals today.

The revelation comes after an investigation into an unauthorised £1 million project at Woodlands Primary School in Gillingham.

A 106-page report which will be considered by the audit committee which meets today.

The report states:

* Finding more funding for the project and putting things right cost the council more than £500,000

* No evidence that the project was put out for competitive tender – the report states that the school’s site manager was responsible for managing the project and the main contractor was his own building company.

* Asbestos safety actions were not complied with

* Tradesmen coming on to the school site were not given effective Criminal Records Bureau checks

The council’s monitoring officer, Deborah Upton, pictured, said in the report: "The poor management of this project, whether by the school or the council, has led to the council not achieving value for money and having to find additional funding for capital works and remediation to be carried out, which amount to a loss to the council totalling £527,000."

Council auditors Graham Matthews and Richard Humphrey, reported: "This entire project can perhaps be described, at best, as a catalogue of errors."

They said the school – rated outstanding by Ofsted – had been given "a convenient avenue to blame everything" on the council.

This was because there was no evidence of how decisions had been reached.

A specialist company called in after the council stopped the work found that asbestos safety actions were not complied with. The Health & Safety Executive (HSE) had to be called in.

Ms Upton stated: "Following investigatory works by Tersus, an asbestos contractor, they reported exposures to six contractors and the site manager, and this also had to be notified to the HSE.

"Asbestos exposure was found within the construction area of the school, and a number of issues were highlighted by building control and by a fire risk assessment."

The council has had to spend £111,872 to rectify this with an estimated £162,618 for further works."

Investigations also revealed "there appeared not to be effective CRB checks in place for trades people," Ms Upton reported.

"There were no procedures in place to ensure that the construction works could be separated from children/staff."

See Friday's Medway Messenger for a full report on today's meeting.