A report to councillors said the Our Town Hall project had faced “significant challenges”, including structural issues and major external events such as the coronavirus pandemic, hyperinflation in the construction industry and the war in Ukraine.
The £49m contingency funding included in the original budget in case of unforeseen events was not enough, a council spokesperson said.
But the biggest cost faced by the council was said to have arisen from financial claims from contractors whose workers had been temporarily stood down or remained on site for longer than originally envisaged.
The council spokesperson said they were “robustly negotiating more than 80 such claims to ensure a fair outcome”.
The Our Town Hall update report will be considered by the council’s Resources and Governance Scrutiny Committee on 10 October and its executive on 16 October.
A further progress update is to be made to the resources and governance scrutiny committee in spring 2025.
