DG One To Close For Repair: Wet Area Out Of Action For 13 Months
Written by author on January 22, 2013
DG One is the Dumfries and Galloway Council’s flagship leisure facility. It was designed and built by Kier Northern (Kier). Completion of the building took place in May 2008.
Over the past few years, there have been a number of disruptions to the leisure services at DG One, including closure of the pools and games hall. Following these closures, the Council appointed independent technical experts to investigate and report on the cause of the problems experienced at DG One. A detailed schedule of defects was prepared and presented to the Council. The list of defects relate to both the dryside (gym, games hall, bar) and the wetside (training pool, swimming pool, changing village). The remedial works required to address the defects were also identified by the technical experts. The cost of addressing all of the defects identified is estimated at £3.7 million.
Councillors at today’s meeting of the Policy and Resources Committee received an update from the Director of Community and Customer Services. The committee agreed that the Council will now initiate court proceedings against Kier seeking to recover the full costs of the remedial works and all other reasonable costs and losses. The Council will be seeking to recover up to £6 million.
The Council will now put arrangements in train to undertake the necessary remedial works. In order to do so, the Council anticipates that the building will have to be closed to the public from January 2014. Remedial works to the dryside will take approximately 4 months to complete with the wetside being out of use for a further 13 months.
The Council acknowledges that the closure of DG One will have a significant, negative impact on customers. Community and Customer Services managers will develop a plan for mitigating this impact as far as possible and make alternative arrangements for customers. This plan will be reported to the Council in due course. There will also be further meetings with the staff at DG One to inform them of the situation.
Councillor Ivor Hyslop, Leader of Dumfries and Galloway Council, said, “We are all extremely disappointed and frustrated with the situation with DG One. The Council is now taking the necessary steps to address the issues with the building. I look forward to receiving a number of reports in the up and coming months on how we are addressing these issues.”
