THE final bill for the new look Lady Alice Primary School is set to rise by £240,000 because of delays during refurbishment.

Education bosses have been left counting the cost of water leaks in the boiler house and bad weather which slowed down operations.

They are now in talks with the main contractors over settling the account.

Lady Alice Primary staff and pupils moved back into the building in August following the £3.8m revamp.

A report prepared by education director Ruth Binks for next week's education committee meeting said: "Final account negotiations are ongoing with the main contractor and additional funding will be required to address projected over expenditure.

"The committee is requested to note the current over expenditure of £241k and that a more detailed report on the final position will be brought back to a future committee upon agreement of the final account for the project."

In an earlier report the committee was told that a combination of adverse weather and problems in the basement boiler house had to be addressed.

The Lady Alice Primary refurbishment completion date was pushed back from May to August last year.

Inverclyde Council will use money from the construction of the new St Ninian's Primary School, which came in within budget, to plug the gap.

Meanwhile councillors are also being asked to approve an increase in the cost of refurbishing Hillend Children's Centre.

The bill is set to rise to over £1m as part of the overall capital programme for this year.

Councillors will be told that the cost of refurbishing the centre - which caters for youngsters with additional support needs - will rise by £200,000 to £1.2m.

Contractors are now well under way with the transformation of another educational facility in the town - St Mary's Primary.

Pupils and teachers are currently decanted to the former Sacred Heart Primary in Larkfield while their home undergoes a facelift.

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