Staffordshire HQ cladding workers urged to speed up

Workmen carrying out repairs on the new multi-million pound council building in Stafford have been ordered to speed up the work.

Staffordshire Place has been dogged by problems with its cladding and the work is dragging on. And council chiefs revealed today that the project was temporarily suspended so they could convey their concerns to the contractor.

Bosses said they were "frustrated" by the slow progress of repairs on the £38 million building – which opened last year – but which might not be fully finished until Christmas.

Pieces of masonry began falling last October, just weeks after it opened, and at that stage town hall officials hoped the work would be completed by the end of January. It was then extended to June but will now be months later. Hoardings still remain in place for safety reasons.

County councillor Mark Winnington, cabinet member for environment and assets, said: "We have been frustrated by the slow progress of these repairs and so we have been working with our contractors to look at different ways of working which will get the job done well but more quickly.

"While this was being done the work was suspended but teams were back on Monday and the good news is that we are now on track to finish the remedial work early, by Christmas at the latest.

"It was very disappointing to have to get our contractors back to replace poor work on the external cladding but we took action to get this right in order to protect the public and ensure the building is working at its best."

Remedial work is being carried out at the expense of the contractors, which the council would not name.