Fresh doubt has been cast over plans to build a new £90 million college campus in Dunfermline with confirmation that funding is still not yet in place for the project.
With Fife College’s existing Halbeath campus in dire need of a revamp, the institution is pursuing plans for a new development on Dunlin Drive after securing the former Shepherd Offshore site.
The total cost of the new campus is expected to be around £90 million, and was expected to be funded by £70 million via the Scottish Government’s non-profit distribution (NPD) programme and the rest from the Scottish Funding Council and college resources.
However, amid ongoing concerns about that particular funding model, Fife College essentially had to rework its business case to the Scottish Funding Council (SFC) – with a decision expected in the coming months.
And despite the Scottish Government committing to new facilities for Fife and Forth Valley in its 2014 budget, no guarantees have been given as yet.
A Fife College spokesperson said the college “remains optimistic” funding will be made available for the new campus, adding that it expects a decision “soon” following the recent publication of the Scottish Government Spending Plans for 2018/19.
The Scottish Government’s draft budget for 2018-19 included an increase in the capital budget for colleges by £29.3 million to £76.7 million compared with 2017/18.
Having said that, a Scottish Government spokesperson stressed the decision on funding allocations will largely be down to the SFC.
“Last month the SFC published their Estates Condition Survey, this provides a robust and consistent assessment of the condition of buildings across the college estate to help identify priorities for future investment,” the spokesperson confirmed.
“It is ministers’ expectation that the SFC and the college sector use this report to prioritise the finite capital investment available and ensure resources are targeted to where they are needed most.”
That condition survey, which was published in December, suggested that work to tackle the maintenance backlog at Fife College’s current Halbeath Campus would cost at least £4.1 million.
The survey also noted the plans to replace Halbeath and dispose of the existing assets within a three to five year period, and confirmed that this approach will “have a major influence on the sensibility of expenditure in terms of catch-up on backlog maintenance and major lifecycle renewals”.
“The items in our report take account of this and are rationalised to the extent that they do not include all works to all assets that would currently be envisaged to bring back to Condition B (a building which is generally sound, wind and weather-tight and in a state whereby existing defects are not significantly worsening or compounding), although they do provisionally include life-cycle for elements where wind and water-tightness, operational status or safety may still be significant risks within a five-year look-ahead,” the survey added.
“Realistically the strategy would be to keep patching and repairing to the limit, while budgets provided offer a generous contingency within the look-ahead period to action some major issues should they be required.”
With all that in mind, a spokesperson for the Scottish Funding Council stressed proposals for the new campus were “still at an early stage”.
“The full business case has been evaluated and has also undergone an independent technical assessment,” the SFC continued.
“There is still work to be done before the project moves onto the next stage and we continue to work with the college on this important element of its estates strategy.”
