Since before Christmas a rumour has been gathering pace in Billingham that the Forum regeneration was ahead of schedule.

Billingham regeneration office today put pay to the rumour

"I’m afraid the rumours are not correct about being ahead of schedule. If anything there have been a number of unforeseen snags. However, the contractors still hope to be finished on schedule and are now past the worst stage of the project."

Another member of the regeneration team added

"One area that has created problems is the level of contamination within the structure of the building and we continue to work with the contractor and specialists to resolve this point. The project is still programmed for a completion in January 2011."

A web site has been set up between Stockton Borough Council and their contractors Morgan Ashurst, the site contains numerous photographs and this comprehensive report on work to date

"We are now in week 20 of the project and we are still finding asbestos and structural problems with the existing building in places that could not have been identified prior to the works commencing.

The remedial support to the existing concrete cladding panels has now been fully installed and the coloued composite cladding panels are now being installed. You may have noticed that we have only progressed the coloured cladding up to certain levels. This is due to additional asbestos finds around the existing windows, which has prevented us from being able to install the new steel framing that is required to support the new window heads. The asbestos is now being removed and we are hopefull to able to continue the cladding installation in the new year.

The sports hall roof has now been completely stripped and a new perforated liner sheet has been installed. The roof covering is now being applied and is due for completion early in the new year. This area of works has been severly hampered by existing structural problems with the internal blockwork walls, which upon closer inspection were poorly built and had no restraint back to the steel frame. This left them in a very unstable manner and remedial works have had to take place to ensure the future stability of the walls.

Swimming Pool

The internal suspended ceiling has now been completely removed and the existing ductwork has been stripped out. We are now removing the tiles and render to the deep end of the main pool in preparation for the new pool walls to be formed.

The changing village is a complete shell at the moment and we are now commencing the required drainage alterations prior to the erection of new internal partition walls and services installation.

The pool plant room area (beneath the spectator seating gallery) has now had all of the asbestos removed and is ready for us to commence the removal of the existing equipment. This will now take place after the christmas break.

Theatre

The theatre has been the subject of many further asbestos finds. This has severely hampered progress as obviously, no works can take place whilst the asbestos is being removed. We are now clearing the last of the known asbestos from the changing rooms and we should then be able to proceed with the new installation early in the new year.

The hospitality area has also been the subject of extensive additional asbestos finds. This has halted works to certain areas until such time as we can gain access to remove the asbestos.

Dry Sports

We have now commenced the installation of the new drainage to the ground floor areas of the changing rooms. The new lift shaft pit has been installed and the blockwork shaft will start to be built on our return in the new year.

The asbestos to the first floor area has now been completey removed and we are now starting to remove the old climbing wall and prepare for the new intallation to this zone.

Ice Rink

The new ice rink slab and surround walls have been cast. We were scheduled to commence the installation of the new ice pad pipework early in the new year, however the existing wall panels have been found to be structurally unsound and we will now have to remove them and replace them with a new wall panelling material. This will therefore impact on the start of the ice rink installation however, we hope to be able to recover this time as the project proceeds.

Main entrance and central circulation areas

The new steel frame to the central atrium is now being painted (off-site) and will be ready for installation immediately on our return in the new year. This was originally due to be installed prior to Christmas however structural difficulties have caused some delay to this element.

The existing entrance screening has now been removed and works to form the new entrance slab are underway.

You can view the full site at

http//www.billingham-forum.co.uk