Writer's Block

Oh Dear

I don't like to say, 'I told you so,' (not very much anyway), but the long awaited Cambridge City Library will not be up and running in May. The Council has sacked the builder. The library was due for completion in March 2008, most recently May 2009. The estimated completion date is now September 2009. It makes the Ministry of Defence look like sharp operators. The fact that we have an estimated completion date at all is because another builder has been appointed. Now the original estimated cost of the library was £7.5 million .  The new builder will be charging more per square metre than the original builder, even though he does probably need the work. Prices have gone up and he must pay his suppliers. The Council  has a reputable builder on board at last, who will do his best to complete on time, but he is still a builder who has just seen all his Christmases come at once. There will be extras, a lot of extras and we will have the, 'Terrible workmanship, Guv, got to take that lot out and start again' syndrome. and probably quite right too. So we can kiss goodbye to that £7.5 million estimated cost.  The Council says they have activated the penalty clause in the contract. I do hope they can show consequential loss of income from the delays, because if not the original builder's lawyers will think all their Christmases have come at once as well. In the end we must ask how it all happened. The Council is saying it is a failure on the part of the builder. I would say it was a failure of Project Management on behalf of the Council. We will see. My latest forecast is £10 million, inclusive of legal fees. It will all be over by Christmas. Probably.

I have finished Bonfire of the Vanities, brilliant, although rather rushed at the end. Anyway the last paragraph made me laugh a lot. Do read it. I  have also  very nearly finished Volume Six of A Dance to the Music of Time. The Second World War has just begun. The dinner parties are temporarily over. Phew!