COMPLETION of the new astro turf development at Frome Sport & Fitness has been delayed, causing costs to escalate.
Work on the £125,000 replacement of the astro turf, which began in July, was expected to be finished by the end of October, but is now expected to be completed in mid-November. The discovery of poor drainage on the original build has caused the cost of the re-development to rise to almost 50% more than the original quote.
On the centre’s Facebook page it was announced, “Whilst we are making progress with the replacement I reluctantly have to report a delay in the process which is now looking likely to complete on Friday 17th November.
“I understand this is a huge inconvenience for you and want to assure you we are attempting everything we can to mitigate the problems and complete as soon as possible.
“The drainage works undertaken have revealed serious problems with the original build, causing saturation of the lower base levels. The drains were not laid correctly, causing water egress, and this has subsequently caused subsidence in the layers above. The original construction also looks to have been compromised and the expected layer of tarmac is significantly compromised and needs addressing before we can provide a quality finish.
“The build cost has escalated by approximately 50% over the original quote due to these findings and clearly we are losing income for the lost bookings, so it is in no way beneficial for Fusion to delay the process.”
Fusion Lifestyle, who manage the centre said, “Due to unforeseen issues with the initial construction and subsequent remedial works, we are delayed with reopening these facilities. We anticipate we will be able to successfully reopen shortly, although the schedule of plans is weather dependent, and we are working in partnership with the council and stakeholders to achieve the fastest resolution possible.”
