Water issues push Worthing Care Centre £15 million above budget

Councillors are recommended to approve to increasing Worthing's Integrated Care Centre's budget by an extra £2.4 million pounds

Author: Katie AhearnPublished 4th Jun 2026

A state of the art healthcare centre in Sussex is facing huge extra costs as a battle continues to remove harmful bacteria from its water supply.

Councillors are recommended to approve to increasing Worthing's Integrated Care Centre's budget by an extra £2.4 million pounds, months after a contractor assured it had removed all traces of legionella.

It hikes the total price to almost £49 million - £15 million more than an initial budget of just under £34 million put forward.

The building, which will bring multiple NHS services onto one site, was expected to be completed in 2023.

Adur and Worthing Council says post-Covid supply issues, rising energy costs and workforce shortages first bumped up the costs - with construction problems and project delays pushing them up further.

It added it's considering "all legal remedies" to cover the costs.

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