Greenwich council to examine foot tunnel report

The Cabinet of the Royal Borough of Greenwich will consider a report on 17 October to review the refurbishment of the two foot tunnels under the River Thames and to agree a course of action to allow the work to be completed as quickly as possible.

Refurbishment of the tunnels has been ongoing since 2010. The project has suffered severe delays and has resulted in the council changing contractors to facilitate the completion of the work.

The work is now substantially over budget and while seeking to complete the works as expeditiously as possible, the council will be seeking to recover costs from previous contractors through negotiation, contract dispute resolution and possibly litigation.

During the course of the refurbishment, project management arrangements have been intensified and an enhanced programme of works agreed to ensure that the tunnels could be operational as soon as possible and to minimise the inconvenience to the public.

The Royal Borough of Greenwich shares the frustration of tunnel users and the general public over the time taken to complete this project and apologises for the ongoing delays to this work.

Legal advice is being sought from a firm of specialist construction lawyers to determine any case for recovering the additional costs from the contractors.

Read the foot tunnels report on the Cabinet agenda (Item 13)