Council faces £80m upgrade costs

Version 0 of 1.

More than £80m in upgrade works are required on council properties in south west Scotland, it has emerged.

Condition surveys carried out on 195 buildings in Dumfries and Galloway included schools, offices and community facilities.

The upgrade is needed to ensure the properties are in good repair and comply with current legislation.

Councillors will be asked to speed up surveys on remaining sites in order to draw up future spending plans.

All of the region's schools have been examined as part of the five-year rolling programme of checks.

Speed up

The investment needed at primaries and secondaries alone is thought to be more than £65m.

A £6.5m estimate has been put on bringing 50 community facilities up to standard, with £8.5m needed at 31 office buildings.

All of the properties were rated from A to D with just two being assessed at the top level.

A report to next week's corporate policy committee underlines the need to speed up the survey programme.

It says such information is required to allow "objectivity in the allocation of capital investment between the various property estates".