Refurb of Blackburn market floor to cost more than £600k
8:00am Saturday 19th January 2013 in News
MORE than £600,000 is to spent refurbishing the ‘grubby’ floor on Blackburn’s £8 million new market hall less than two years after it opened.
The borough council has set aside £679,000 to do the work which has been welcomed by traders.
Blackburn with Darwen regeneration boss Dave Harling revealed the renovation plan to its executive board.
The work is expected to be done early this year and the cash is being borrowed by the borough while legal negotiations to recover money from the two firms which did the work.
Main contractors Browns and their flooring sub-contractor have both gone into administration since the market opened in June 2011 and council lawyers are continuing talks with the accountants who have taken charge of their activities over who should pay for the work.
Coun Harling said: “We hope to do the work early this year. The floor just looks grubby at the moment.”
Stewart Cunliffe, of Sanderson’s Bakers in the market, said: “This is good news. Its got to make things better. The floor looks dirty.”
Daniel Moffett, owner of Butler’s Family Restaurant, said: “It’s the right thing to do. I don’t think it will greatly increase footfall but it will make the market look better.”
Malcolm Marsden of Whitaker’s Butcher said: “It’s about time they did the floor. But when are they going to do it? I hope it’s on Sundays not during the week.”
Whitehall Liberal Democrat councillor Karimeh Foster asked Coun Harling at the executive board meeting in Darwen town hall: “Why is the council having to borrow £679,000 for work in Blackburn Market when it is only one year old?”
He replied: “The additional capital requirement includes provision for remedial works which may be needed at the new market, the main items being mechanical and electrical works and repairs to the flooring.
“The main contractor is Browns who are in administration and we have challenged the quality of the flooring with them.”
He said the sub-contractor for the flooring was also in administration which made recovering the costs of refurbishing it even more difficult.
Coun Harling said after the meeting: “Legal discussions with the administrators are continuing over who pays for this work.”
Comments(30)
Sick of rip off
says...
8:25am Sat 19 Jan 13
happycyclist
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9:19am Sat 19 Jan 13
paperboy70
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9:34am Sat 19 Jan 13
bigste
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9:41am Sat 19 Jan 13
frank
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9:48am Sat 19 Jan 13
Sick of rip off wrote:my thoughts exactly, not too keen on the tin foil ceiling either.
I visited the market for the first time recently, what a sad, depressing and soul less place it is. I felt sorry for the market traders in there. It looked and felt like some deprived third world country.
slammer
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9:50am Sat 19 Jan 13
Tell you what, for 100.000£ a year I will come and scrub the floor with a toothbrush once a week..!
Jerzei Balowski
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11:10am Sat 19 Jan 13
buckoff
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11:13am Sat 19 Jan 13
A Darener
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11:48am Sat 19 Jan 13
juanbbien
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12:12pm Sat 19 Jan 13
burner
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1:09pm Sat 19 Jan 13
tenerc
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2:54pm Sat 19 Jan 13
LOOK AT THE LIGHTS ON THE BUTTONS!!! if you want to go up, the lift going up will turn off the blue up button.
last time i went on the market we had to wait nearly 10min for a lift. to go up.
A Darener
says...
3:16pm Sat 19 Jan 13
tenerc wrote:Plus people who could use stairs block the lifts for those with wheelchairs and mothers with buggies.
while there at it why not put an extra lift in, that only goes from the market to the shopping center, sick of having to wait for the lift while people who don`t know how to use a lift get in a lift going DOWN when they want to go UP.
LOOK AT THE LIGHTS ON THE BUTTONS!!! if you want to go up, the lift going up will turn off the blue up button.
last time i went on the market we had to wait nearly 10min for a lift. to go up.
phil kernot
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3:33pm Sat 19 Jan 13
mrdd186
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4:54pm Sat 19 Jan 13
M.DANNY
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8:33pm Sat 19 Jan 13
The market hall is a mess right now it needs to be improved.
sean_brfc
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10:31pm Sat 19 Jan 13
M.DANNY wrote:Couldn't disagree more. The food hall is packed every time I go to the market. Why would we want a big room upstairs full of soulless food chains? If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
The market looks ok the floor needs improving.The food quarter needs to be removed so the market hall have more space.The food quarter need to go above the Mall roof with kfc,burger king ,pizza hut express,harry ramsden ,nandos,starbucks , mcdonalds like the one in Leeds i visited.
The market hall is a mess right now it needs to be improved.
As for the floor, it never looked great. But not sure that changing it is worth £600k.
Not sure how people can still be moaning about the market. It's always fairly busy and is a pleasant place to shop in an excellent location attached to the shopping centre. Moaning sods, the lot of them.
Carl_24
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2:17am Sun 20 Jan 13
AND OF ALL THINGS THE FLOOR!!!
THE ENTIRE MARKET NEEDS DOING BECAUSE FOR NEARLY 2 YEARS IT'S LOOKED LIKE IT'S NEVER BEEN FINISHED.
WHILE THEIR AT IT GET BETTER SECURITY.
becca81
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9:51am Sun 20 Jan 13
Grim ooop north
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11:17am Sun 20 Jan 13
ste.g
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11:51am Sun 20 Jan 13
2 for 5p
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1:16pm Sun 20 Jan 13
mrdd186
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2:24pm Sun 20 Jan 13
2 for 5p wrote:the people doing the floor are charging about £400 per sq metre i think the brown envelopes are being passed about.
i think there is a case of fraud going on here, it needs investigating.
2 for 5p
says...
3:02pm Sun 20 Jan 13
mrdd186 wrote:Yes exactly I think the council should make it public knowledge the quotes that other company's submitted . Somebody is definatly on the make.
2 for 5p wrote:the people doing the floor are charging about £400 per sq metre i think the brown envelopes are being passed about.
i think there is a case of fraud going on here, it needs investigating.
mrdd186
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4:50pm Sun 20 Jan 13
2 for 5p wrote:just been on google earth and measured the market it is 44mx23m abouts so that is 1012 sq metres so it works out about £670 a sq metre some one is taking the ****
mrdd186 wrote:Yes exactly I think the council should make it public knowledge the quotes that other company's submitted . Somebody is definatly on the make.
2 for 5p wrote:the people doing the floor are charging about £400 per sq metre i think the brown envelopes are being passed about.
i think there is a case of fraud going on here, it needs investigating.
2 for 5p
says...
6:03pm Sun 20 Jan 13
mrdd186 wrote:You could then take off the space that stalls take up I bet that must be well over half.
2 for 5p wrote:just been on google earth and measured the market it is 44mx23m abouts so that is 1012 sq metres so it works out about £670 a sq metre some one is taking the ****
mrdd186 wrote:Yes exactly I think the council should make it public knowledge the quotes that other company's submitted . Somebody is definatly on the make.
2 for 5p wrote:the people doing the floor are charging about £400 per sq metre i think the brown envelopes are being passed about.
i think there is a case of fraud going on here, it needs investigating.
You could possibly do it with gold as your earlier comment says.
jack daniels
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8:12pm Sun 20 Jan 13
phil kernot wrote:Can you prove this Phil because as it stands you've just accused members of the council of committing a criminal act....
why are the council not using contractors with insurance backed guarantees in case thay go bust , tel you why because somone who approves them is on the take ,,, anyone says this don't happen is in cookoo land , , take this for instance a contractor bids for a big council contract , gets iit , next thing the guy that sits on the board is having extension , and his house refurb by the same contractor , , corruption is rife in blackburn big time ,,,,,
stillgame
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10:43am Mon 21 Jan 13
mrdd186 wrote:"44 x 23m"
2 for 5p wrote:just been on google earth and measured the market it is 44mx23m abouts so that is 1012 sq metres so it works out about £670 a sq metre some one is taking the ****
mrdd186 wrote:Yes exactly I think the council should make it public knowledge the quotes that other company's submitted . Somebody is definatly on the make.
2 for 5p wrote:the people doing the floor are charging about £400 per sq metre i think the brown envelopes are being passed about.
i think there is a case of fraud going on here, it needs investigating.
Laughing my old a55 off. The market isn't even built on Google Earth.
It's at least 3,000m2
mrdd186
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5:18pm Mon 21 Jan 13
stillgame wrote:i know the market is not built yet but the building site is there look on google earth and measure the building site.the market floor cant be bigger than the buikding site can it.
mrdd186 wrote:"44 x 23m"
2 for 5p wrote:just been on google earth and measured the market it is 44mx23m abouts so that is 1012 sq metres so it works out about £670 a sq metre some one is taking the ****
mrdd186 wrote:Yes exactly I think the council should make it public knowledge the quotes that other company's submitted . Somebody is definatly on the make.
2 for 5p wrote:the people doing the floor are charging about £400 per sq metre i think the brown envelopes are being passed about.
i think there is a case of fraud going on here, it needs investigating.
Laughing my old a55 off. The market isn't even built on Google Earth.
It's at least 3,000m2
2 for 5p says...
8:04am Sat 19 Jan 13
Stewart Cunliffe, of Sanderson’s Bakers in the market, said: “This is good news. Its got to make things better. The floor looks dirty.”
Daniel Moffett, owner of Butler’s Family Restaurant, said: “It’s the right thing to do. I don’t think it will greatly increase footfall but it will make the market look better.”
hope it reflects in your rents , well why not you think its good to spend £600,000 of council tax money.