Local authority chasing firm for damages 鈥� but contractor says: 鈥業t鈥檚 not our fault鈥�
A row has broken out between Interserve and a West Midlands council over who is responsible for the closure of a school building which has forced the local authority to shell out more than 拢1m on emergency classrooms since January.
Interserve, which yesterday lost its 拢736,000-a-year finance director Mark Whiteling after just 18 months in the role, completed a 28-classroom building called the Jubilee Block at Perryfields High School, a specialist maths and computing college, in Oldbury in 2012.
But the block, which also includes five offices, has been shut since December last year meaning pupils have had to be taught in temporary classrooms.
Problems have included leaks and the structural condition of the building with headteacher Ian Barton recently telling parents at the 1,100-pupil secondary school (pictured), currently on its Easter break, that it