There’s a large underestimate of the architects’ fees in the ‘business plan’.

Costs are given to RIBA 3 for the development phase of the ‘Helm’ project, yet they are only give to RIBA 2 for the delivery phase (page 19).

There’s an important difference between RIBA 2 and RIBA 3.

RIBA is the Royal Institute of British Architects.

RIBA Stage 2 is the concept design phase of planning a building.

RIBA Stage 3 is the ‘Spatial Coordination’ stage, a critical phase where the project’s theoretical aspects transition into concrete realities. Where the plugs go and so forth.

Stage 3 demands a high level of expertise and coordination among architects, engineers, and other specialist consultants, embodying the essence of practical and detailed architectural planning.

In other words, Stage 3 plans can be expected to cost the same as Stage 2 again, possibly much more than that.

Stage 2 costs £1,670,000 – how much will it cost to go to Stage 3?

Likewise the costs for the car park and access – Stage 2 costs £490,000 – how much extra for Stage 3?

Similarly, costs for the landscaping: £350,000 to Stage 2.

The fees for ‘the above’ are given as £222,009: how much more will they rise to bring the project up to RIBA Stage 3?

Will it cost the same again – more? – much more? – we just don’t know.

What we do know is that there is a built-in cost overrun to this project.