Desertcreat, Cookstown Northern Ireland community safety college

Tuesday 2nd July 2013

Desertcreat, Cookstown Northern Ireland community safety college

The Northern Ireland Community Safety College will provide a fit for purpose training facility which allows the Police Service of Northern Ireland (PSNI), Northern Ireland Fire and Rescue Service (NIFRS) and Northern Ireland Prison Service (NIPS) to train and develop officers and staff to provide personal, protective and professional services to the whole community.

The training centre was due to be completed in 2015 but significant human error by designers Perkins and Will are behind a mounting bill and time delays over the first combined police, prison and fire officer training centre in Northern Ireland. Two consultant firms had underestimated the overall cost of the project by tens of millions of pounds. It was originally costed at £80m, but that estimate has grown to around £135m.

This whole project has became a 'shambles' with huge negative press overshadowing a centre which was designed to become a "world leader in its field" – is expected to run almost a year behind schedule due to a multi-million pound budget underestimate.

The completion date for the college at Desertcreat, outside Cookstown, which was to be operational by the end of summer 2015, has now been pushed back to May 2016.
A multi-million pound under-estimation of building costs is believed to be the cause of the delay.
Categories: Cookstown District