The cost of Croydon’s Fairfield Halls project has been revealed in the Brick by Brick accounts which were formally published last week

The total cost of the project, which included the refurbishment of the arts venue and plans to redevelop the car park and public areas nearby, was £76.4 million.

The work was done by council-owned developer Brick by Brick.

The latest figures are laid out in the company’s 2019-20 accounts published last week which also shows the company lost more than £800,000.

Cash for the works, which were completed in September 2019, were advanced by the council in the form of a £59 million loan and Brick by Brick also received £11 million for the project in the form of a grant from Coast to Capital LEP.

The total cost of refurbishing the venue was £42.6 million, well over the £30 million budget.

A separate £34 million spend went on other development costs, including public realm, an underground car park and planning permission costs for homes on neighbouring land.

The council was forced to declare effective bankruptcy last year and issue a Section 114 notice banning all non essential spending. This notice has since been lifted thanks to a government loan but spending controls will remain in place for the coming months and years.

In February, the council’s cabinet decided to halt future Brick by Brick projects that will not be completed by October 2021.

In 2019-20 Brick by Brick lost £803,451, on top of the £657,611 it lost in the previous financial year.

On November 26 Colm Lacey and Martyn Evans stepped down as directors of Brick by Brick days after a Croydon Council commissioned report recommended they be removed from post.

They were replaced with Ian O’Donnell, a finance consultant at Croydon Council since May 2020 and Duncan Whitfield from Southwark Council who chaired Croydon’s finance review panel.

Despite this, Mr Lacey remains the CEO and says the 2019-20 accounts are a ‘true and fair’ view of the company’s position.

He added: “The final accounts represent a true and fair view of the company’s position at 31st March 2020. The accounts themselves set out a range of challenges that Brick by Brick has faced in the preparation of these statements. The final position has clearly been influenced by the difficult financial position being faced by the Council, insofar as it acts as the company’s single shareholder, and more recently, by decisions made by its Cabinet regarding the future of Brick by Brick.

“In the meantime, Brick by Brick continues to roll out the pipeline of work as agreed with the Council with a view to optimising financial returns on these investments and continuing to develop affordable homes in the borough.”