Documents seen by Express this week appear to confirm that the planned temporary construction and key worker villages are intended to be built at Les Ozouets and Les Coutanchez.
Key industry professionals from the local construction sector have told Express of their concerns around the plans after the tender for providing both went live last Friday.
With the contract for building a new post-16 campus at Les Ozouets already awarded to Jersey based firm ROK, the contractors in contact with Express have shared concerns including the prospect of more tax payers money going off island if tens of workers are brought in for the education project.
The tender to provide the temporary accommodation opened on Friday 31 January and will close on Friday 28 February.
In response to questions asked by Express today, a spokesperson for the States Property Unit said: “As per the proposal in the 2025 Budget, the Policy & Resources Committee is working towards setting up temporary ‘construction village’ and a temporary ‘housing village’.
“The construction village would provide temporary accommodation for contractors and sub-contractors supporting major development projects, while the housing village would provide temporary accommodation for a broader user base. The invitation to tender for the construction of these villages is open until 28th February.”
While this did not confirm the location of the proposed temporary villages, business leaders within the construction industry had already told Express of their concerns having seen designs for one to go at Les Ozouets – where the new post-16 campus is being built on the site of the former St Peter Port School.
A second is likely to be built in a field adjacent to the College of Further Education site at Les Coutanchez. No building work is currently planned for that site.
Express has seen images which appear to confirm the locations of the proposed temporary village sites – as replicated in the images posted above.
Previously, the 2025 Budget included proposals to spend £5million on temporary accommodation for construction industry workers and key workers. Amendments to the budget sought to ensure locals could also live in the temporary units too.
Initially it had seemed to some that the temporary construction workers accommodation would be used to speed up the building of new residential units as the island tackles an ongoing houses crisis. However, the images seen by Express this week suggest that the accommodation would be linked with the planned development of a post-16 campus.
Deputy Lyndon Trott, President of P&R, referenced the proposed temporary villages in a speech to the States this week.
He also appeared to infer that the staff using the temporary accommodation would be involved in building new houses as well as other development projects.
“Another important workstream is the outcome of the on-going Island Development Plan review focused on housing and employment land,” he said. “Those revised IDP proposals have now been published by the DPA, and the Committee will continue to take a keen interest.
“This Assembly has already agreed to fund the next tranche of work by the Guernsey Development Agency and the Local Planning Brief for the Harbour Action Areas should be considered before the end of this political term.
“Nevertheless the Committee is still frustrated that the rate of building has not improved.
“However its proposals to build a temporary constructor’s village were supported in the 2025 Budget debate and I am pleased to report we are accelerating its procurement.
“It will be very important to the Island’s housing that the next Assembly establishes a pipeline of funded projects in order that the construction sector can scale up and supplement capacity to meet a steady building programme.”
Deputy Trott’s speech can be read in full HERE. You can listen back to him speaking in the States HERE.