North Quays plan changes fees "not unreasonable" says Council

The increase in consultants' fees and the 110 redesign variations of the North Quays plans were "not unreasonable", a senior council executive told councillors at the recent Plenary meeting of Waterford City and County Council.

A recent audit of the Council's finances conducted by principal local government auditor James Moran highlighted that the consultant's fees for the delayed and over-budget North Quay development had nearly tripled beyond its original scheme. The original consultancy costs, procured by tender, were expected to be €6.7 million but the audit report found that figure had risen to €19.6 million

The rise in costs was blamed on more than 110 redesign variations of the project and the "prolongation of the original tender period resulting in the consultant’s work mainly being undertaken at hourly rates".

Significant concern was expressed by local councillors following the news that the council was seeking legal advice regarding the increase in costs.

At the March plenary meeting, Cllr Donal Barry requested to be briefed on the legal advice the council had sought and any investigations into the rising costs.

Waterford City and County Council's Director of Services, Michael Quinn responded: "In relation to the North Quays, the legal advice we sought was actually just to make sure that we were complying with procurement [regulations] because of the changes in value associated with the design works."

"For the scale of the project - the prolongation of the project - the level of changes and the fees are not unreasonable," Mr Quinn said.

"I appreciate somebody looking at it from the outside would not quite understand that, but this is one of the most complex regeneration projects in the country at the moment.

"The complexity [of the project] lead to some cost and design changes. Some of those design changes were also brought forward to try and optimise the cost of construction."

The Director of Services said that the Council believes "the current situation is satisfactory" and blamed the delays to the project on factors such as the pandemic which made the original timeline "completely unachievable".