The picture illustrating today’s blog was supplied by one of our most active members, who is, in our view, one of the unsung heroes of the Lancaster West community and who has, as a consequence, been frequently and unfairly criticised and savagely character-assassinated by some denizens of Hornton Street, regardless of political colour. The picture shows the unfinished Sports Hall of the new Academy and is remarkable in that it shows a complete absence of construction workers, or of construction activity, on this part of the site. Our informant tells us there has been no such activity in this area during the last few weeks.
The reason for this was revealed at the most recent KALC Residents Forum held at the Methodist Church on Thursday 17th October. Leadbitters have, it seems, been forced by design problems to suspend construction in this area, where the Academy’s sports hall is to be located. Leadbitters representatives became extremely prickly when pressed on the nature of the problem, and would only state that it was a temporary design problem which was “their problem to fix”.
They did not disclose how long this set-back might delay the construction of the Academy, but with the project being hurried through at such a pace, and all criticism dismissed out of hand from the planning stage onwards, there was always the possibility that some of the crucial design features might prove to be misconceived and/or unexpectedly problematic.
With the first cohort of pupils expected on site in September 2014 let’s hope that Leadbitters can overcome their present problems and finish the Academy on time. We have been told all along that this is a deadline they cannot afford to miss!
Grenfell Action Group 