And now... the Aberdeen bypass fiasco.

[Sasaferrato]

Bypass consortium agrees cost claim settlement

More public money pissed away. Why don't the SNP accept that they are not capable of delivering major infrastructure projects? (The new bridge is still not finished, two years after it opened.)

 

[pogofish]

They did better than the Scottish Office though, who had despite spending several large chunks of money,repeatedly failed to deliver it since plans were first laid in the 1930s.

And the estimated price was always a laugh - even with ruthless and very visible cost cutting measures like the Cleanhill roundabout instead of a proper grade-separated junction, the vanishing hard shoulder and the concrete berm instead of a proper central reservation, it has made a significant difference to traffic in and around the city.

 

[farmerbarleymow]

Basically, every government fucks up infrastructure projects. It's just the way it is the world over. The SNP are no different.

 

[alex_]

Bypass consortium agrees cost claim settlement

More public money pissed away. Why don't the SNP accept that they are not capable of delivering major infrastructure projects? (The new bridge is still not finished, two years after it opened.)

The article literally says “Galliford Try said it also expected to incur a write-off of £52m.”

This means the costs over ran and the contractor took some costs on the chin - this is a well run public sector project.

 

[DexterTCN]

Sasaferrato you need to put in a comparative cost, you can't just throw out an article and say it's terrible. Especially not from the beeb in Scotland.

 

[pogofish]

this is a well run public sector project.

There were a few issues that contributed to it being less well-run than it could have been. Notably the lack of proper coordination with Aberdeen City, which turned into keeping them at arms length from the current project This was a double-edged thing of course as the City’s attitude/non-conformance/plain dragging their feet on their part in the project had been a factor in the previous failures but meant interminable wrangling over design/legal compliance matters which remained in the council’s domain for the current project.

‘However, it was noticeable that when Holyrood took full control of the project, things actually got done and kept moving forward.

Then there was the complete failure to factor-in a legal challenge, which the City had known would happen since at least the 1970s and handing ammunition to the challengers to delay the project further by choosing a final plan/route that was not amongst the options selected for consultation at the planning stage - all of which contributed to significant cost increases and the aforementioned cost-cutting measures.

TBH, I could see them having to return to the route in a few years and finish it properly. The Cleanhill Roundabout has become the main accident black spot on the route itself and similar to the M90, the “emergency lay-bys” reek of being a stop-gap measure to be corrected at a later date.

The Kingswells slip roads are also proving too short for safety - with traffic backing-on to the road at peak periods, so either lengthening or a proper slip lane would seem the obvious next step.

Then there are some issues surrounding how the various contracts were awarded/managed - which allowed the contractors to keep the completed/usable stretches of the road closed for a lot longer than they needed to be whilst they tried to hold-us to ransom over the faults in the Don Bridge.

 

[equationgirl]

Bypass consortium agrees cost claim settlement

More public money pissed away. Why don't the SNP accept that they are not capable of delivering major infrastructure projects? (The new bridge is still not finished, two years after it opened.)

I know you don't like the SNP but try reading more than one BBC article on the subject befoe being critical. This project has long been contentious, way before the SNP took over. As a local pogofish is better informed than most of us on the bypass shenanigans. It was controversial when I lived in Aberdeen over a decade ago and barely getting started with construction.

 

[8ball]

I'll do it for £4,500.

 

[alex_]

I'll do it for £4,500.

This was how Carrillon got involved

 

[pogofish]

If you want a project to really get your teeth into, the AHEP (Aberdeen Harbour Expansion Project) is shaping-up to be a big embarrassment.

Wonky business case, major misleading about its purpose, a Spanish contractor with a history of controlling/dominating management practices and a cavalier attitude to health and safety/quality and despite some major incidents - like grounding one of the largest ships in Europe and having to replace much of the main breakwater because the concrete wasn’t up to scratch, a near complete blackout on any news/conversation about the project.

It’s all shaping-up to be a matter of quite some concern, no matter what parties are involved.

 

[pogofish]

And as if by magic - improvement proposals for Kingswells junction have just been tabled.

Improvement plan submitted for notorious Aberdeen bypass junction - Evening Express

 

[FiFi]

I'll do it for £4,500.

See...this is where the trouble starts!

 

[pogofish]

Remember what I said about the AHEP:

Dragados UK pulls out of harbour expansion

The main contractor for the £350 million-plus Aberdeen Harbour expansion has pulled out, leaving nearly one-third of the work undone. Aberdeen Harbour

www.energyvoice.com

As of Monday next week, Dragados are withdrawing/removed/sacked.

And there is still rather a lot of work needing done - incl rebuilding of works already undertaken, dredging and “erosion issues”. Losing a major contractor at this stage is bad enough but losing the principal contractor is going to be rather damaging!

They are blaming the virus of course but there is I think a lot more to come-out.

 

[two sheds]

Remember what I said about the AHEP:

Dragados UK pulls out of harbour expansion

The main contractor for the £350 million-plus Aberdeen Harbour expansion has pulled out, leaving nearly one-third of the work undone. Aberdeen Harbour

www.energyvoice.com

As of Monday next week, Dragados are withdrawing/removed/sacked.

And there is still rather a lot of work needing done - losing a major contractor at this stage is bad enough but losing the principal contractor is going to be rather damaging!

Get your bid in fast 8ball .

 

[8ball]

Get your bid in fast 8ball .

On it.

Three grand, bish bash bosh - that'll be sorted.

 

[pogofish]

It gets better - There now seems to be an approx one hundred million shortfall and Dragados are saying it ain't because of them..!

Home

2209434

www.eveningexpress.co.uk

 

[Sasaferrato]

It gets better - There now seems to be an approx one hundred million shortfall and Dragados are saying it ain't because of them..!

Home

2209434

www.eveningexpress.co.uk

Scotland in general seems to have problems with big projects.

The Seaforth fiasco was compounded by the revelation that the piston head retaining screws should have been replaced two years ago. Of course, when you are running a service at 100% capacity on an ongoing basis, there is no good time to take a boat out of service for routine maintenance.

Then there are the hulks on the Clyde, still with no credible plan to get them finished and into service.

 

[pogofish]

Yes - time was, even not that long ago that CalMac used to keep a couple of their previous generation larger boats tied-up at Roseeath or on excursion duty at Oban, which could be pressed back into service to cover breakdowns but that seems to have stopped. Only a couple of the smaller craft are retained now and they even had to drag one of the old Skye boats off the pier at Kyleakin where they had left it rusting fr a decade or more in order to put it back into service somewhere else!

The thing with the new boats seems to be that they signed-of on the contract before the design for the LPG engines/system was finalised, which has led to constant delays/chopping and changing as they try to make them work!

They do have something worked for routine maintenance though - The Hebrides puts in to Aberdeen every February/March for a couple of weeks like clockwork.

 

[Sasaferrato]

Yes - time was, even not that long ago that CalMac used to keep a couple of their previous generation larger boats tied-up at Roseeath or on excursion duty at Oban, which could be pressed back into service to cover breakdowns but that seems to have stopped. Only a couple of the smaller craft are retained now and they even had to drag one of the old Skye boats off the pier at Kyleakin where they had left it rusting fr a decade or more in order to put it back into service somewhere else!

The thing with the new boats seems to be that they signed-of on the contract before the design for the LPG engines/system was finalised, which has led to constant delays/chopping and changing as they try to make them work!

They do have something worked for routine maintenance though - The Hebrides puts in to Aberdeen every February/March for a couple of weeks like clockwork.

I believe the nearest port at which LPG may be piped aboard is in England.

We were living on Harris when the first Hebrides came into service, that was 1964.

 

[pogofish]

I believe the nearest port at which LPG may be piped aboard is in England.

There seems to be a parallel contract to set-up fuelling points at Uig on Skye and Ardrossan but no clarity on where the LNG will be trucked from - Isle of Sheppy, Milford Haven or Grangemouth/Braefoot Bay are IIRC the principal options.

CONTRACT AWARDED FOR SCOTLAND’S FIRST LNG BUNKERING FACILITIES

Caledonian Maritime Assets Limited (CMAL) has awarded a contract to KC LNG, Kosan Crisplant’s division under MAKEEN Energy, to design and install Scotland’s first liquefied natural gas (LNG) bunkering facilities at Uig and Ardrossan. When completed, the facilities will provide a source of LNG...

www.cmassets.co.uk

 

[pogofish]

That's thirty million found to keep the AHEP going via the new Scottish Inventment Bank:

Harbour secures £30m SNIB loan for expansion

The Scottish National Investment Bank has provided a £30 million loan for the expansion of Aberdeen Harbour, the largest marine infrastructure project in the UK.

dailybusinessgroup.co.uk

The Scottish National Investment Bank has provided a £30 million loan for the expansion of Aberdeen Harbour, the largest marine infrastructure project in the UK.

Just months from being operational, the harbour will provide more land and water access for offshore developers and play a vital role delivering the supply chain benefits of the recently announced ScotWind leasing round.

Aberdeen’s Energy Transition Zone will be located adjacent to the South Harbour development. Together they will create a critical mass of offshore engineering experience to drive transition and maintain north-east Scotland as a centre of energy excellence.

Eilidh Mactaggart, the bank’s chief executive, said the South Harbour project will deliver “a high-specification facility which will shape industry in Aberdeen for decades to come” and provide valuable space, as well as water access, for both offshore wind supply chain providers and offshore wind developers.

The expanded port has been designed to accommodate larger, wider, and deeper vessels, while providing land-side facilities for the expansion of the offshore wind industry.

At least they seem to have stopped talking about cruise ships for now but the "wind industry" space might only happen after the oilfield scrappies have had their way for a decade or two.

 

[geminisnake]

Criuse ships are meant to be going into Dundee from what I've seen. I love the Aberdeen western peripheral route, it's one of the nicest roads I've driven on in ages. I enjoyed driving on it so much I missed my turn off and we ended up in Ellon(we were supposed to be going to Inverurie) during the summer I wish I lived closer so I could drive it more often

 

[pogofish]

The AHEP as a cruise ship destination was the hook they first used to get the council and public on board for the scheme but it didn't stand-up to much scrutiny as it soon became apparent that the new dock was going to be too small for much of the current generation of vessels working the North Sea, never mind the future, so they would still need to lighter most passengers onshore. Same with "green energy" - that's just them trying to hitch their wagon to whatever current policy looks most likely - The project has always been about providing facilities for decommissioning oil rigs, nothing else. Maybe in the future though?

The AWPR will be better when they finish it - Most of the problems are around the main junctions for people coming on or off of it, not driving the road itself and couldn't really have been predicted before it opened. The Kingswells improvements are all approved and due to start in the spring apparently. Hopefully Cleanhill will follow after that.

It has also changed the way I do stuff around the city - I only need to go into centre when I absolutely have to and FTM, that is no loss at all.