Blackpool's decade-old £20m tram depot faces huge repair bill after judge says its lifespan is 20 years and not 50

The scheme was even forced to overcome an eleventh hour probe into whether or not it needed to go to a public inquiry which, it was claimed, could have spelt the end of the line for trams in Blackpool.

Now, after a judge said the landmark building was built to last for just half its intended 50-year lifespan, the council faces another major headache over the multi-million pound project, which is riddled with problems.

Town hall chiefs face finding the cash for repairs totalling millions for the depot, which is being bombarded by the salty sea air and winds, as early as 2031 instead of in 2061.

"Architects were briefed that the building should be attractive as it would be a major gateway to the resort, said Coun Maxine Callow, who was the council's tourism boss in 2009 when the depot was commissioned.

Built by engineering and construction giant VolkerFitzpatrick from September 2009 to 2011 as part of a £100m upgrade of the tramway, it was designed to wow holidaymakers arriving in the resort by car while also acting as a maintenance and storage building for 16 of the new Bombardier trams.

Visually striking and modern it is, with a curved metal roof, large aluminium wall looking west out to sea, curved 'wave-formed' decorative cladding, and huge double-glazed folding tram doors, although, after a storm tore off some of the roofing just three years after it opened, questions were asked about its brawn rather than its beauty.

Coun Tony Williams, the Conservative leader of the opposition, said today: "My immediate thought was, 'This should not be happening. We have just paid a load of money."

Ambitions to link the tram tracks to Blackpool's North railway station, allowing visitors to hop off a train and onto a tram to reach the Promenade, Fleetwood, and Cleveleys, were ageing before even the Starr Gate depot was built.

And the state-of-the-art shed was corroding even before contractors dug up Talbot Road to extend the track up to where a terminus will be built on the site of the old Wilko store, which has now been pulled from the town's skyline.

Even as wrecking crews prepared the bulldozers, lawyers from the council and Hertfordshire-based VolkerFitzpatrick were locking horns at the High Court of Justice in Manchester, where a four-week trial was held.

Legal cases against two other firms involved were settled, while another is still ongoing, court papers read.

The council said "significant parts" of the depot will never last for the half-century it had expected and are unfit for their exposed coastal location.

But VolkerFitzpatrick, which employs more than 850 people, argued "the contractual design life is either 25 years or 20 years depending on the element in question" and said the authority was to blame because it failed to properly maintain the building.

Despite the firm offering to carry out repairs, council chiefs "unreasonably" refused and wanted some elements to be replaced when it was "wholly unnecessary", it also claimed.

Awarding the council £1.12m, significantly less than the £6.7m it wanted, His Honour Judge Stephen Davies said: "I am satisfied that the design life obligation period is either 20 or 25 years rather than 50 years," and said some components don't need replacing, with repairs acceptable in a number of cases.

Both the council and VolkerFitzpatrick emerged believing they were victorious in court, though the judge said it was the former that ultimately won because it won six out of seven defect claims for roof components, wall cladding panels, overhanging soffit panels, wave form cladding panels, tram doors, and other items.

"I have no doubt that the claimant is properly to be regarded as the successful party," he said.

"Whilst it is true that its primary case was that assuming a 50-year contractual design life its claim was valued at almost £6.7m, its pleaded alternative case was that assuming a 20 or 25-year contractual design life its claim was worth around £3.6 million, so that it recovered some 30 per cent of the claim on that basis."

Roof steel components

The council said the components, including clips, spacer bars, and brackets, were inspected after parts of the roof blew off during the storm in January 2015 and found to be "corroded to a significantly greater extent than should have been exhibited after four years of operational life". It said the parts weren't fit to last even 20 years and that the builder was to blame. The judge said there was "significant corrosion around the perimeter caused by water penetration due to defects in the design and construction of the eaves and the gutters and that, in consequence, the roof components do need replacement up to two metres in". He awarded the council £150,305, though it had asked for £1.01m.

Wall cladding panels

The wall cladding blistered due to corrosion, the council said, and wasn't suitable to be used in the exposed coastal location. It said interior painted metal liner sheets are "already exhibiting widespread degradation" and won't last for 20, 25, or 50 years. The builder said the council was to blame because it failed to maintain the panels by removing build-up of salt, dirt, and debris. The judge decided "the cause of the blistering is some manufacturing defect" and handed the authority £67,342. It asked for £1.03m.

Overhanging soffit panels

The builder admitted the overhanging soffit panels had fallen apart and rotted, though it said the council refused its offer to fix the problem because the aluminium finish "was not in accordance with the planning permission which required white panels". The judge awarded the council £107,525, though it sought £154,000.

Wave form cladding panels

Again, the builder admitted liability but said the council rejected its offer of putting the problem right. The judge awarded the council the £122,000 it asked for.

Tram doors

The council said the tram doors and side panels had to be replaced as early as May 2012 because they had corroded and degraded and said "the replacements have also corroded and degraded". A factory-applied coating had blistered and come off, with exposed zinc suffering from rust, the court was told. The judge awarded the council £311,730, though it wanted £449,240.

Other defects

The judge awarded the council £246,331, slightly more than the £228,497 it wanted, after being told about several other issues, including defective roller shutter doors, plant room doors, signs and poles, drainage, and lighting.

Cold formed components

The council sought £2.765m for fixings connecting the wall and roof sections to the depot's frame but got nothing, with the judge saying: "I do not accept the claimant's case that the cold formed components are inadequate for their design life or otherwise unsuitable (nor in any event that they need replacement)."

When asked if it considers the case over, whether it expects to spend £6.7m on repairs and who will pay the difference, and when it expects to have to replace the depot, Blackpool Council said: "As this is an ongoing issue, it would be commercially imprudent for us to respond to any of these questions in this instance."

VolkerFitzpatrick had not responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

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