Lochside Leisure Centre demolition due this month

Demolition contractors will be on site at the Lochside Leisure Centre after the school holiday.

After more than five years of lying empty, the centre is just weeks away from coming down and signs have now been erected at the playpark next to the former centre warning that it will be out of bounds until spring.

Once it is demolished, the site at Forfar Loch Country Park will then be landscaped.

Angus Council officials had to defend the choice of a central Scotland for the £650,000 demolition contract at a recent meeting, however.

The local authority said that its would have liked to have given the job to a local firm but Falkirk-based Central Demolition put in the top tender for the five-month project.

Officials at the meeting also said that local companies had been approached to encourage them to submit a quote.

Tender documents were issued to 16 contractors across the country and 10 submitted bids.

But Central Demolition’s £650,000 quote was £150,000 more than the council had allocated for the job.

Officials were asked about the tender process and if Angus firms had expressed an interest.

Carnoustie councillor David Cheape said: “I realise we use a procurement framework and it came in with a good number of businesses tendering. But in the knowledge it’s come in significantly above what we have left in the pot, why doesn’t someone pick up the phone to one or two local companies and see if we can get the price down?”

But he was told that the idea of “bartering down” a contractor or using figures as a “stalking process” would be unethical.

An official said: “We’re convinced the figures are realistic in the market at the moment. We wrote to all the demolition contractors in the local area asking them to tender so I think we did our due diligence.”

Montrose councillor Bill Duff said: “Ten tenders out of 16 looks pretty thorough to me. It’s unfortunate the delay here has cost money and that’s life, I guess.”

The contract involves clearing the site, including the removal of asbestos in the building. The firm was also involved with the demolition of the former Forfar Academy.