Despite having £10m spent on it 25 years ago, some of Beau Sejour’s crumbling infrastructure still dates back to the 1970s – and that’s what is going to need addressing sooner or later, according to a senior politician.
No commitment has been made about redeveloping the site, but the States recognises it will need to spend money on it, said Deputy Paul Montague.
His Education, Sport and Culture (ESC) committee recently published a review of Beau Sejour, that was commissioned by its predecessors.
The review makes no mention of the multi-million-pound redevelopment of ‘Beausie’ at the turn of the century, and instead makes repeated references to “patch and mend” maintenance work that has taken place at the centre since it was built in 1976.
Deputy Montague said the people writing the review didn’t want to get bogged down in a timeline of what has been spent where and when, and acknowledged that the revamp of Beau Sejour before the 2003 Island Games involved a “significant investment”.
“I think we’re all aware of the way that Beau Sejour was upgraded then,” he said. “I was asked was that the last time they put in the cushioned floor in the sports hall and that sort of thing.
“I suppose it is a bit strange that the previous committee commissioned the report, and the report didn’t actually reflect in its timeline that investment but it was a significant investment to get ready for those Games.”
Deputy Montague explained that the company commissioned to do the review was asked to look at the facilities as they are now, which includes some vital plant equipment and other infrastructure that hasn’t been updated since Beau Sejour was first built.
He acknowledged that a lot of money has been spent on Beau Sejour consistently since it opened in 1976, and he said that the millions invested at the turn of the century was money well spent.
A quarter of a century on, we might now need to spend that amount again to bring it up to modern day standards.
“There is a question, to go back and ask ‘well, what was spent?’ but we’re talking 23 years ago.”
He said the report was a “good piece of work” with a “lot of evidence in there”, and it made it clear there was “work to do”.
“There is an interesting question of ‘was the right money spent in 2003 for the Island Games’, but we’ve had 23 years of this Beau Sejour,” he added.
The recently published review has outlined Beau Sejour’s “importance as a community asset” while also highlighting several challenges that it faces.
They include the age and condition of the facility, under-performing and under-utilised areas, and the need to respond to future demands.
Co-produced by ESC and ‘subject matter experts’ FMG Sport & Leisure Consultancy, the review warned there are two options – major refurbishment or rebuild.
We know that the refurbishment carried out in the early 2000s cost just over £10m, having gone over budget. That would be worth more than £20m today.
Deputy Montague said no decisions have yet been made about anything to do with the future of Beau Sejour – but money will have to be spent on it in the future.
“I think in Guernsey we’re guilty of just thinking, ‘oh well, just patch this up’, but sooner or later the infrastructure makes the decision for us, and that’s the big fear with Beau Sejour,” he said.
“It’s a central community hub, it’s so important for the community, people go there all the time, and (staff) do make it look good,” he added.
“This weekend they were able to help out with the Vale Earth Fair in terms of moving some of the acts to the David Ferguson Hall.
“It’s things like that that make it such a valuable asset for the island, but the bottom line is that building.
“The things that we don’t see when we go in is the quality of the roof and the leaks coming through.
“What we don’t see is (the problems with) all the windows, and we certainly don’t have any understanding of the plant room, but if you go into the plant room and you see all the infrastructure that keeps a swimming pool running, and we’ve had to replace this pump and that pump, and this boiler needs doing… It’s a big building, but it’s a building that’s 50 years old.”
