Morgan Sindall bags £34m former Willmott Dixon leisure centre job

Morgan Sindall will restart a stalled leisure centre project in Newcastle 10 months after Willmott Dixon left the project in the midst of spiralling costs.

Newcastle City Council announced yesterday that it appointed Morgan Sindall as its key construction partner for the West Denton leisure centre (CGI pictured), where costs have inflated by half, to £34.2m.

The project, to replace a swimming pool that closed during the Covid pandemic and never reopened, was originally expected to cost £22.3m and be ready for use this summer.

Daniel Greenhough, councillor for the leisure centre’s local ward, told Construction News that the original construction partner, Willmott Dixon, was taken off the project last September after the council assessed its value for money. Willmott Dixon told CN that the decision to part ways at the end of the pre-construction services agreement (PCSA) was mutual

He also confirmed that there would be “small changes” to the scope of works, including a slightly lower swimming pool ceiling height, although he added that the impact should be minimal.

Greenhough said: “We welcome that the project is still going to go ahead because other levelling-up projects have had to be pulled following what happened in Ukraine [and the war’s impact on inflation] and other cost crises.

“I am proud that we managed to work hard to get the best value for the project, and residents will still see things like the swimming pool as envisaged.”

Groundworks will start in the coming weeks following demolition works, which began last November. Newcastle City Council now expects the leisure centre to open in 2026.

The council successfully bid for £19.8m of levelling-up funding for the project in October 2021, which initially had to be spent by March 2024. The deadline for spending the money has been postponed until March 2025, but the council expects it will have to ask the government for another extension.

It has also received £2.5m from national community sports agency Sport England and pledged to fund the remaining £7.2m shortfall. 

Build costs represent £28m of the overall project, with the remaining spend needed for design and planning, legal fees, asbestos removal and demolition.

Councillor Abdul Samad said the project was never in doubt despite the delays, adding that the council had “remained steadfast in its promise to build it”.

He said: “Like many levelling-up projects up and down the country, it has been impacted by the soaring cost of building materials and labour.

“During the course of the project, we have had to appoint a new construction partner and secure additional sources of funding, but now we have finally got there the project can get underway.”

The building will feature an eight-lane, 25 metre swimming pool, 17 metre training pool, sports hall, gym, cafe, children’s play area and library.

Morgan Sindall’s area director for the North East and Cumbria, Alex Isted, said: “We are delighted to see this project move forward and to be able to utilise our expertise in order to help Newcastle City Council overcome the difficult, nationwide challenges posed by historically high levels of inflation.

“Leisure facilities bring immense value to communities. Better health and wellbeing are, of course, an end in themselves, but a more active and engaged population is also one likely to be less dependent on other services – and better able to contribute to economic growth.”

UPDATE: A spokesperson for Willmott Dixon told CN at the end of Friday: “Our team worked closely with Newcastle City Council under a PCSA to develop the first stage of this project and we really wanted to make it work given our strong presence in the region.

“However, with a rise in costs we agreed that we couldn’t meet the council’s expectations for the leisure centre within the available budget.

“We therefore both decided to conclude our involvement at the end of the PCSA last year.”