I would like to know how much money was retained by Devon County Council (DCC) as a result of the contractor doing a sub-standard job and what percentage of the contract sum this was.
Devon County Council hold a retention of 3% of the tender value for a period of three years. The value of this retention is just short of £100,000.
Has the money been paid back to them since, or not?
50% of the retention has been released back to the contractor.
How much has DCC had to pay out to ensure the work was completed and will this money be paid back to DCC by the contractor?
Devon County Council has not paid any additional costs to ensure the work was or will be completed.
If not will DCC take legal action to seek redress?
Devon County Council are not looking to, nor have any requirement to, carry out any legal proceedings in relation to this matter.
How much extra will the council taxpayers of Devon have to pay over and above the initial contract sum, or will they not be out of pocket?
None, there will be no extra payment over and above the initial contract sum.
If this work was part of an ongoing maintenance contract, Have Kiely Bros been replaced by another contractor?
Kiely Bros have not been replaced by another contractor. They carried out remedial works to the studs in March 2020.
Following investigations from our Materials Laboratory however it was found that some studs were still slightly out of specification. The investigation also highlighted another issue in that the width of some sections of road were below 5.5m and therefore in line with our policy, raised the question as to whether centrelines were appropriate at this location. This was backed up by our safety team and it was concluded that the studs and centrelines weren’t required and that it would be appropriate to remove them. It was deemed that a constant overriding of road studs, if not addressed, will simply continue to damage existing studs or bury them lower into the road surface making them less effective. It should also be recognised that even studs within specification will undoubtably still cause noise due to their specific location and constant overriding.
As a result of these findings Kielys removed the road studs on 14th June 2021 and have now re dressed the road. These works were undertaken at the contractor’s cost.