Delayed Stoke-on-Trent City Council HQ is 'major risk'

A £45m office development in Stoke-on-Trent has been classified as a "major risk" project by the council.

Stoke-on-Trent City Council was due to move into its new Smithfield headquarters in May but it said there were problems with the building.

The project is now on the authority's Strategic Risk Register, which lists schemes that could affect the council's ability to deliver services.

Developer Laing O'Rourke said there were no structural problems.

In May, the council's then Labour leader Mohammed Pervez, said the building was not "satisfactory" and the council would move in later in the year.

Mr Pervez said there was a problem with the concrete slab floor and the developers were addressing the issue.

New leader, City Independent Dave Conway, said there was a difference of opinion between developers and the council about the severity of the problem.

He said the council was taking advice from experts on the scale of the issues.

The developer has not yet responded to a request for a comment but in June it said the problems were "cosmetic".

"We are working closely with our client to rectify the situation. Independent specialists investigating this occurrence have indicated that this is an aesthetics issue only and does not affect the integrity of the structure," a spokesman said.

The council has a list of 34 areas on its "strategic risk register". It includes anything that could affect the authority's ability to deliver its priorities or the services it legally has to provide.

Smithfield is rated as a major risk - the highest-risk project on the register.

The council believes there is a greater than 50% chance that something might impact the cost or completion of the project.