£136million project in Luton town centre back on track - with work on The Stage due to restart in January
Delays previously labelled “horrendous” to a flagship £136m town centre regeneration project in Luton appear to be at an end, a meeting heard.
Progress on The Stage mixed-use development on the former Bute Street shoppers car park in Church Street appeared to have ground to a halt amid issues with a health and safety regulator.
Residential properties, a multi-purpose performance and community area, a food court and commercial space are included in the plans, which are underpinned by £20m of levelling up funding.
Luton Borough Council’s director of property and infrastructure Roger Kirk told the local authority’s scrutiny finance review group: “I’m pleased to report we’ve established a constructive and open relationship now with the building safety regulator.
“All the indications are that we’ll have a building safety regulator sign-off on Friday, November 7,” he said. “That means we’ll start work again as soon as the festive season is over.
“We’ll be back on site from January 5 next year. Meanwhile, we’ve managed to work closely with construction firm Willmott Dixon to keep the project within its current budget.
“The contract will be let at the cost agreed by the executive committee previously,” he added.
Liberal Democrat Barnfield councillor David Franks, who chairs the review group, asked whether the £20m government grant is safe. Mr Kirk replied: “Safe and secure, yes.”
In June, councillor Franks called for pressure be put on the government by Luton’s three Parliamentarians and the Local Government Association “to do something about these horrendous delays, which are also affecting other local authorities”.
LBC’s application to the regulator was submitted in July 2024 and should have been reviewed by last November, the review group was informed at that meeting.
Owing to a lack of resources at the building safety regulatory body, it remains undetermined, Mr Kirk had explained. “The regulatory organisation has been unresponsive, despite lobbying at ministerial and senior civil servant level.
“It finally agreed to meet our design team and has tabled several requests for extra information. This time extension will clearly impact on the programme and on the budget,” he warned in the summer. “But contingencies in mitigation are in place.
“There’s no current danger of us having to cancel any other projects to fund this one. We’ve a robust cost plan, which means the negative impact will hopefully not be material.”
Asked if contractors could charge the council extra fees, he responded: “We’ve been burning contingency at the rate of around £100,000 per month, but that’s within an allowance.
“With the extended time, we’ll have to revalidate the cost plan. Our best guess at present is that the negative impact, in terms of the capital project, is less than £1m.
“As things stand, there’s no need for further subsidy from the council. There are substantial contingencies within the development. It’s partially offset by forecast increased income from residential sales.”
The town’s MPs and the former LBC chief executive were sent replies by the Minister for State and a senior civil servant suggesting they were “very busy and very sorry”.