Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Claims no contract was signed for construction of new Aberdeen school, prompting £10m price hike and delays

An artist's impression of the replacement Riverbank School, a project now thrown into uncertainty due to soaring construction costs. Picture by Aberdeen City Council.
An artist's impression of the replacement Riverbank School, a project now thrown into uncertainty due to soaring construction costs. Picture by Aberdeen City Council

Aberdeen could be forced to fork out an extra £10 million for a new school in Tillydrone because no contract was ever signed with the builders, it has been claimed.

Construction of the replacement Riverbank School has already begun at the site of the former Tillydrone and St Machar primaries.

But workers have cleared the site after laying the foundations.

Council officials this week revealed plans to potentially down tools on the long-awaited, now £36.2m, school for at least four to six months.

Freeze on building Aberdeen school comes amid huge cost cutting exercise

It comes as chief accountants try to limit overspending on the local authority’s major building projects, caused by global turmoil.

But now the SNP have come out swinging, claiming the forecasted £10m price hike on the Riverbank project was caused by flawed paperwork.

Building of the new Riverbank School in Tillydrone could be halted for months - as the council gets to grips with the soaring costs of major projects. Picture by Ben Hendry/DCT Media.
Building of the new Riverbank School in Tillydrone could be halted for months – as the council gets to grips with the soaring costs of major projects. Picture by Ben Hendry/DCT Media.

Council officials were asked about the extraordinary claims on Thursday but have so far been unable to comment.

In February, councillors were told Robertson Construction had been hired to lay the foundations to speed up building after Covid delayed the project.

At that time, bids for the main job were being considered by officers with the hope of “continuous” flow into the full construction by awarding the contract in time.

Lockdowns and furlough of key staff had been blamed for delays in getting designs for the school together.

It was hoped it would open a year late, next August.

Change in council leadership brings fears of ‘cuts, closures and cancellations’

The nationalists took charge of the council, in partnership with the Liberal Democrats, in May.

Since then, an in-depth review of capital spending has been launched, while the unpopular decision to close the Beach Leisure pool for months after the school holidays was also taken.

Councillors could this week sign off on halting work to build new council houses at Craighill, Kincorth, Tillydrone and Kaimhill “at the next most appropriate milestone”.

Construction of major Aberdeen council housing projects - like this site in Tillydrone - could be halted in the face of rising costs. Picture by Ben Hendry/DCT Media.
Construction of major Aberdeen council housing projects – like this site in Tillydrone – could be halted in the face of rising costs. Picture by Ben Hendry/DCT Media.

Resources director Steve Whyte says it would be a “prudent” step while ways to cut costs on the city’s huge housebuilding scheme.

It has prompted fears of a new era of “cuts, closures, and cancellations” under their stewardship.

Allegations previous Aberdeen council leadership never signed contract for new school construction – allowing in £10m price rise

For the last 10 years, Labour ran the council in coalition with the Conservatives and independents.

And it is this previous administration that SNP finance convener Alex McLellan is pinning the blame on.

He told The P&J: “We will take no lessons from the Labour group who had been in charge of the council for the last 10 years.

Aberdeen SNP council finance convener Alex McLellan claims the £10m price rise is a result of no contract being signed for the construction of the new Tillydrone primary school. Picture by Wullie Marr/DCT Media.
Aberdeen SNP council finance convener Alex McLellan claims the £10m price rise is a result of no contract being signed for the construction of the new Tillydrone primary school. Picture by Wullie Marr/DCT Media.

They could have delivered Tillydrone Primary, but the reality is that they had not even signed a contract for the completion of the school build. In terms of the delivery of their long promised 2,000 houses, they have fallen well short of that target during their time in office.

“I would like to provide a clear assurance that the SNP and Liberal Democrat partnership now running Aberdeen City Council will deliver a new primary school for Tillydrone and will take steps to improve our housing stock in the city as we move forward.”

‘Absolutely no excuse’: Labour hit back at ‘appalling’ SNP considering Tillydrone freeze

His attack on his predecessors came as Labour claimed angry Tillydrone residents “deserve better”, while the hundreds waiting for a council house would be “appalled” at the suggestion of putting construction on hold.

Aberdeen leader Sandra Macdonald said: “The SNP have been in power for only twelve weeks and already we see a raft of services and projects under threat.

Aberdeen Labour leader Sandra Macdonald said the plans to freeze school and council house building would "appal" Aberdonians. Picture by Kenny Elrick/DCT Media.
Aberdeen Labour leader Sandra Macdonald said the plans to freeze school and council house building would “appal” Aberdonians. Picture by Kenny Elrick/DCT Media.

“The previous Labour-led administration left the council finances in good shape and set a budget that was achievable and deliverable.

“It hasn’t taken long for SNP and Lib Dem councillors to take a red line through the things that local people most want: new homes and new schools.”

Claims the council had failed to sign a contract to have the new Tillydrone school built were put to Mrs Macdonald.

She told us the timetable was put in place by the legal need for consultation, dictated by the Scottish Government.

“There is absolutely no excuse for the SNP to delay this any further,” the George Street and Harbour councillor added.

The foundations have been laid for the replacement Riverbank School... but construction is now longer taking place on the major Aberdeen project. Picture by Ben Hendry/DCT Media.
The foundations have been laid for the replacement Riverbank School… but construction is now longer taking place on the major Aberdeen project. Picture by Ben Hendry/DCT Media.

“The foundations are in. The longer they take to start building, the more it’s going to cost.”

The SNP’s Mr McLellan highlighted that all council groups had voted for the review of the council’s capital projects, in the face of “ongoing supply chain issues”.

He added: “The circumstances which we are dealing are not like anything we have seen for decades.”

Conversation