St Aloysius College faces ‘punitive’ fines if block’s demolition is delayed

Published: 23 July, 2010
by RÓISÍN GADELRAB

POLICE were called as teachers occupied the Town Hall chamber on Tuesday in protest at “punitive” £70,000 a week fines their school faces if it delays the demolition of a “vital” building. As council staff tried to persuade the group of parents and teachers from St Aloysius College to leave, campaigners sang “We Shall Overcome” and demanded to see education chief councillor Richard Watts – who was unavailable at the time.

Four police vans lined Upper Street on Wednesday as teachers returned to the Town Hall to conclude their two-day strike. Teachers and parents say a new £17 million school building – part of the former Labour government’s Building Schools for the Future programme – is not fit for purpose and believe the only way for the school to manage in September is to keep Block B.

But, the Tribune can reveal, if St Aloysius delays the demolition of Block B, the school will be forced to pay private developers Balfour Beatty (BB) £70,000 a week. If they stop the building from being flattened altogether, the fines will be at least £150,000.

NUT rep Denis Doherty said: “It’s completely crazy that anybody would sign a contract like this. It’s completely punitive. BB are months behind on the project but they haven’t faced penalties.”

Teachers also claim that at one point they were stopped from entering Block B to pick up classwork and had to inform the GCSE board after artwork went missing. But BB says it is going ahead with the demolition because Islington Council has not asked them to stop. 

Leaked documents seen by the Tribune reveal how school solicitors wrote to Islington Council last September asking to change the contract signed in 2008, offering to cover the costs of retaining and refurbishing Block B.

But minutes of a school committee meeting in May reveal how the governors and headteacher Tom Mannion were forced to drop their plan because of the risk of huge penalty payments. 

Cllr Watts said: “The school has to take the lead in resolving this matter. The council does not own the buildings at St Aloysius and any changes to the previously agreed contract of work – including retaining Block B – will have to be paid for by the school, who agreed to the original plans.”

Marjorie Hooper, for Balfour Beatty, said: “Any decision about whether the building comes down or not is with the local authority. They haven’t told us to stop. We have a contract to knock it down, we’re progressing with that.”