COSTS for decontamination work at the site of Malvern's new health centre in Pickersleigh Road are soaring.

New estimates show the former gasworks and council depot is likely to need between £1,399,200 and £1,478,700 spent on it before building work can start.

Malvern Hills District Council, which sold the site to Alfred McAlpine, is responsible for funding the remediation and abnormal works.

On Tuesday (July 25), executive committee members will be asked to approve allocating a further £348,500 to be spent on the site.

Coun Clive Smith, spokesman for community health and well-being, said: "At the end of the day we would have to have done it, no matter what went there. It's a duty of care, we had to clean the site."

The council agreed to sell the site to Alfred McAlpine in November 2005 for the reduced sale price of £400,000, and agreed to contribute £125,000 towards the cost of a new roundabout at the junction of Pickersleigh Road and Madresfield Road.

In October 2005, the remedial work was estimated to cost £876,732.50 to £1,130,147.50. The council had approved an initial budget of £500,000 for the work in July 2005, subject to review.

A further £500,000 was allocated in February and work was scheduled to start on April 18 and be completed by the end of June.

However, the contract is now not expected to be completed until the middle or end of this month, due to problems including the amount of contaminated material that needs to be removed from the site and a re-design of the roundabout being required.

Work on the main construction is expected to begin on August 1 and the health centre should be open by October 1, 2007.