Guildford fire safety work overruns by £1.6m after door miscount
The project now totals £6.5m after Guildford Borough Council underestimated how many fire doors needed replacing
A major fire safety project in Guildford has gone £1.6 million over budget after the council underestimated how many fire doors needed replacing in its housing stock.
A new report shows Guildford Borough Council has already spent £4.1 million on the work, far above the original £2.5 million estimate. The total cost is now expected to reach £6.5 million.
Officers signed the contract in 2022 without a full understanding of the scale of work required. The report says assumptions were made based on incomplete data, leading to the number of non-compliant fire doors being underestimated.
The form of contract allowed the council to order work as it went along, rather than setting a fixed number in advance. This meant the true cost increased as more faulty doors were identified. Additional buildings and safety upgrades were also added later.
Pedro Wrobel, Joint Chief Executive of the council, said: “Whilst it is frustrating we did not catch this before breaching the budget, at the very least we caught it very shortly afterwards. We are once again looking at our controls, not just in housing but across the piece, to make sure we have as firm a grip as possible on this.”
Councillors have approved the overspend but are not seeking additional funding at this stage. The council says the extra £1.6 million will be taken from elsewhere in its capital programme.
Cllr Catherine Houston said: “Regardless of the overspend I think it is wonderful that, in the light of Grenfell, we are taking real care, making sure our residents are safe, particularly against fire.”
Cllr Julia McShane called the cost a “slight overspend” and said: “The new contract also acquired the doors at the same price as in 2022, making a saving.”
The overspend comes after Guildford Borough Council referred itself to the Regulator of Social Housing in 2023. The regulator issued a C3 rating, highlighting serious failings in the council’s oversight of building safety.