West Sussex County Council has chosen a company to carry out £1.7m of remodelling work on two of its children’s homes.
A&F Pilbeam will carry out the work to bring Seaside Home for Children, in Shoreham, and May House, in Worthing, up to scratch.
The homes — along with Cissbury Lodge, in Worthing — have been closed since 2018 after Ofsted inspectors found ‘serious and widespread failures’ at Seaside.
The problems at the homes foreshadowed wider issues at County Hall, with children’s services rated inadequate by Ofsted in May 2019.
Late last year a commissioner appointed by the Government recommended taking services from the county council and setting up an independent trust to run them instead.
The council has since been working on an improvement plan called Children First.
Since the homes closed, West Sussex has been paying to have them maintained and has also paid more than £1m to have the children they used to house placed in other homes.
A report from Susan Tanner, assistant director, children’s commissioning, said the homes were expected to reopen in February or March 2021.
A&F Pilbeam has worked on dozens of major projects across East and West Sussex over the years.
They included the rebuilding of Haywards Heath Baptists Church, the design and build of the Lady Bee Enterprise Centre, in Shoreham-by-Sea, and the refurbishment of the Caer Gwent Residential Home, in Worthing.
Ms Tanner’s report said the contract was worth £1,732,193.90, well within the £2,728,000 allocated to the projects from the capital programme.
Councillors have until August 12 to raise any concerns. If none are received, the contract will come into force on August 13.
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