Contractor appointed to complete Shaw Street development, Royton

We have appointed a new main contractor to finish the delayed development of 30 apartments in Royton.

We will use John Southworth Builders Ltd to complete the £3.7 million project of affordable one and two-bed flats at Shaw Street.

We terminated the contract with the original developer in June this year following unacceptable delays to the project that should have been finished in 2024.

John Southworth has now surveyed the building and external areas following concerns around the quality of the previous work.

The firm identified substantial outstanding construction work, defects requiring correction and design elements needing further attention to meet building regulations.

The contractor will now be on site in the coming weeks and the project is scheduled to be finished by the end of July next year.

“We’d like to reassure colleagues and residents, our customers and stakeholders in Royton that we are progressing this delayed project and it will be finished,” said our Executive Director of Corporate Services and Deputy Chief Executive Andy Ewart.

“However, the scale of the issues discovered means the project cannot simply be restarted from where the previous contractor stopped.

“The identified problems need to be corrected so that the building can be completed safely and certified appropriately.”

He added: “We share the frustration about the length of time this development has taken but we now have a contractor, a detailed plan and visible progress will soon be seen on site.”

We appointed Robwood Construction Limited to build Shaw Street in May 2022, with completion scheduled for February 2024.

Delays were initially a result of a variety of issues but poor contractor performance led to the contract termination.