Mr. Alan WilliamsTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence what is the amount by which the cost of Pindar accommodation exceeded the original estimate; how much of this was the consequence of civil engineering problems; and who was the contractor.
§ Mr. HanleyThe estimated cost of the Pindar civil works programme against the fully endorsed operational requirement in 1989 was £42,500,000. The actual cost was £66,000,000 giving an excess over the original estimate of £23,500,000.
The reasons for the cost increase were inherent technical difficulty of converting the existing deep underground site with the restricted access and the difficulty of estimating the costs for such an unprecedented programme.
The prime contractor was Balfour Kilpatrick.