‘Design error’ adds millions to bypass job cost

A council is considering legal options to ensure it does not face an unexpected bill of up to £20m following a “design error” on a road bridge.

The Grantham South Relief Road will cost between £10m and £20m more, and will open a year later than planned after the alleged boob, Lincolnshire County Council said.

In a statement released on behalf of the authority, Richard Davies, the council’s executive member for highways, claimed the authority was “let down” by an unnamed firm which “made a mistake along the way” on phase three of the project.

The alleged error relates to the installation of the bridge – over the River Witham and the East Coast Main Line – which the statement said now cannot be pushed into place due to concerns around the specific wind conditions.

The mistake slipped through the cracks despite an extra “mandatory, additional layer of independent checking” associated with bigger construction projects, Davies said.

“Safety comes first, so the work was halted so our designers and contractors could address the problem,” he added.

Galliford Try is main contractor on the second and third phases of the project., which already experienced a cost increase in 2022 when the ground was found to be too soft for the bridge’s installation.

It is not known whether the council is blaming Galliford Try, a different contractor or a consultant involved in the scheme for the alleged error.

The latest increase will take the cost of the relief road project to between £158m and £168m.

Davies said: “Let me be 100% clear: while we may need to cover these extra costs initially, we will ensure that those responsible for this are held accountable and that every penny of taxpayer money will be recovered.

“We are pursuing contractual and legal processes as a result of this error so are unable to comment any further on this at this stage for legal reasons.”

The project – originally expected to cost £133m – is meant to reduce congestion around the town of Grantham and reduce carbon emissions in the area.

Davies said that the complexities of designing and constructing the relief road, and in particular, this bridge are “far beyond what we as a council can do directly”.

Due to that, the council has relied “on our suppliers’ combined expertise” moving forward with the project.

A spokesperson for Galliford Try said: “Galliford Try continues to work in a collaborative manner with all the stakeholders on Grantham Southern Relief Road to ensure the safe and timely delivery of this vital piece of infrastructure.

“The challenges that have led to the reported delays relate to the design of the bridge across the River Witham and the East Coast Main Line and Galliford Try is contracted on a construct-only basis on the project.”