Cost of new greener Elgin procurator fiscal office rises to £3.5m
By Paul Homewood
h/t Colin Wilson
The cost of a project to make the procurator fiscal office in Elgin greener has jumped by £1.3m.
The decarbonisation project budget was put at £2.2m earlier this year, but that has now risen 59% to £3.5m.
Renovations have been taking place at the South Street premises in the Moray town.
The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said it was committed to meeting its targets to reduce carbon emissions.
It was announced in August that the office would close for up to nine months to allow the "extensive" works to be carried out.
This includes replacing all windows, installing a new heating system, and insulating all external walls.
During the work, the procurator fiscal office has been temporarily relocated to the town’s police station in Moray Street.
Alison McKenzie, Procurator Fiscal for Aberdeen, said at the start of the project: "We can be enormously proud of the pioneering role our staff in Elgin are playing in helping COPFS to decarbonise.
"COPFS is committed to transforming workspaces to create modern, ecologically efficient and environmentally friendly spaces."
Of the revised budget, COPFS said in a statement: "The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is committed to ensure value for public money in all contracts, which are subject to a robust and compliant procurement process.
"COPFS is also committed to meet its targets to reduce carbon emissions in COPFS premises by 2.5% each year and become carbon neutral by 2040."
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-north-east-orkney-shetland-67612226
Elgin has a population of 25000, so this nonsense will cost each one of them £140. I am sure they will deem this value for money!
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NOT A LOT OF PEOPLE KNOW THAT 
Sciotland is totally unable to write and implement the specification for any contract without both the cost and duration escalating out of control. Many do not look like ever being finished. This incompetent governmental management is ruining the country. We need a massive change of direction.
Oh? Ah didnae ken thae Haitch Ess Twae ran through Scotland ? Mebbe thae got mixt up wi the A9 an’ A96 dualling. Jings a kin ply ae better tune on e Banjo.
Oh aye, ( I’m watching Sat tv – DDR on film 8mm post war: Gov spending on prestige projects etc ) So what happened to the Millenium Dome ? A foretell of this century, perhaps? L@@k out then – there’s still over 3/4’s ( ZERO POINT SEVENTY FIVE ) to go.
At least when one is up at the bench for non payment of an electic bill or a missed heat pump finance agreement payment one will be able to rest assued the process with be enviromentaly friendly.
Is there an offence of climate fraud?
Yes, OB.
But the reward for incompetence is promotion. 😀
and untold wealth…. Al Gore…. Michael Mann……The plastic wearing saint of Sweden
I have no wish to upset any of our Scottish friends (or otherwise!) on here and must firstly add my maternal grandparents are from Perthshire….but! It does rather seem to be a Scottish Mafia (and yes I am half Italian so do feel qualified to make that comment) that runs most of the public expenditure contracts.
Cost overruns are not unusual in all public sector contracts but the spectacular over budget of the Scottish Parliament building now appears to be a benchmark to beat.
This cost every man, woman and child in Elgin £140.
Have a look at the 2 ferries the SNP ordered. The sort of vast incompetence that if it were the Tories would be all over the BBC.
Well, if the new Scottish Parliament building is anything to go by, it could put another couple of noughts on that yet!
Another Elgin marvel.
Tick VG.
At that cost i guess the building is being made in Elgin marble
‘The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service (COPFS) said it was committed to meeting its targets to reduce carbon emissions.’
So they don’t care what it costs. There is no upper limit when spending Other People’s Money.
“We can be enormously proud of the pioneering role our staff in Elgin are playing in helping COPFS to decarbonise.”
Why would COPFS even have such a goal? Their function, is investigate and prosecute.
Fire everyone involved with the project for gross malfeasance.
“COPFS is committed to transforming workspaces to create modern, ecologically efficient and environmentally friendly spaces.”
Not your job, Mon.
‘Of the revised budget, COPFS said in a statement: “The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service is committed to ensure value for public money in all contracts, which are subject to a robust and compliant procurement process.’
What is the value of these changes? What is the NROI? As best I can tell, there is no return at all for the money. It’s just spending. Wanton waste in the name of ‘decarbonisation*.’
*BTW, decarbonisation is fatal.
It clearly isn’t committed to value for money because this work has no value whatsoever. Let’s say that office has £5,000/year in heating costs. Say the work reduces that by 50% (being generous). Payback is 1,400 years.
They’re inventing a better Mousetrap….
It’s the Procurator Fiscal wot done it!
How much will this lower the temperature in 2050?
That’s the purpose, is it not? I guess I missed that number.
In the time it took to write your comment, China has produced enough emissions to replace whatever they save in Elgin and probably many times over.
Large scale incompetence and malfeasance in the public sector should lead to sackings and – possibly – prosecution.
£3.5m paid back over say 20 years means a saving in heating costs of £175,000/year. Seems unlikely. At a saving of £10,000/year, you would spend £200,000. So this is £3.3m wasted. Pure and simple.
Why do they even ask the question? Lots of the usual nonsense about paying wind to switch off.
Does nuclear power have a role in Scotland’s energy future?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-67628514
I cannot understand the lack of economic thinking of the SNP. When Scotland has more generation than it needs it is “exporting” to rUK in a glut as it will almost certainly be windy in England, Wales, North sea etc. So if real market economics applied they would be getting a very low price for it even a negative figure.
Conversely, after Torness closes Scotland has only Peterhead for significant firm supply – the much vaunted hydro in Scotland actually is not very much and similarly weather dependent. If it isn’t windy they will be obliged to import during a dearth of supply when the price is likely be very high indeed. Absent the r’UK subsidising their generation their price/supply dependency would make their electricity very expensive indeed in an independent country.
It came as no surprise when the Norwegian government actually banned a proposed interconnector to Scotland (Northconnect)
I often think the SNP doesn’t want independence at all as that would cut Scotland off from the hand that feeds it. They would rather the notion of independence being witheld from them by the “arrogant and manipulating” English as a unifying factor.
The total installed Hydro Electricity capacity in Scotland is about 1.5GW with about 2.2GW stored when/if Coire Glas (The Grey Kettle hence it’s suitability) is online.
I can’t see much more being created, it will screw up Chris Packham’s Rewilding with all that entails.
I’ve never understood why the SNP haven’t used the Brexit strategy of taking back control from Westminster. With a bit of Maggie Thatcher wasted our oil revenues on unemployed English miners and car workers and now they’re messing up our renewables. Like anything in politics it doesn’t have to be accurate just coincide with what people think.
The obvious answer to SNP economic incontinence is that they are socialist/marxists. You can’t be either if you understand economics. It is funny how as soon as Scotland becomes independent it will sign itself up to control from Brussels – although I doubt they would the economic basketcase.