The confidential report, delivered to Prescott in the last week of September, and which has been seen by Building, states that work on the £250m development is consistent with the original vision.
The inquiry, which was conducted by QS Gardiner & Theobald, concludes that the scheme is on target to fulfil the aims of the winning submission and refutes the accusation that targets for sustainability and social housing have been watered down.
Executive architect HTA claimed that the developer had betrayed the scheme's original concept of integrated private and social housing and compromised targets for sustainability. The report was commissioned by Prescott in the wake of HTA's dismissal.
It is totally absurd to say that there was nothing wrong on the project. Why would they have taken three-and-a-half months to establish everything is on track? HTA director bernard Hunt
The report goes on to say that the original date for commencement of construction work in July 1998 was unrealistic. However, it adds that significant progress has been made during 1999 despite problems within the management team. It says that these difficulties have been resolved.
The report also said that problems were to have been expected on such a challenging and complex project.
The developer was unavailable for comment, but HTA director Bernard Hunt reacted angrily to the findings.
