Twickenham Riverside audit finds 'reasonable assurance'

An audit of the Twickenham Riverside Project has found that core project controls are largely in place and operating effectively, providing reasonable assurance . The project, which has an agreed budget of £67,187,000 with a built-in contingency of approximately £1.8m, is progressing well, with demolition complete and preliminary works underway. The project is on target to sign off the last part of the main contract in April, aiming for completion around the end of 2027.

The audit, conducted by the council's internal audit service and detailed in the Twickenham Riverside Audit Report, identified strengths in the project's governance structure, financial monitoring, and risk management.

The report, presented to the Audit, Standards and Statutory Accounts Committee on Thursday 26 February 2026, highlighted a clear governance structure with a Project Board and Sponsor Board, supported by regular reporting and an approved business case. Sound financial monitoring arrangements, including monthly reviews of spend and forecasts, were also noted as strengths. Monthly Project and Programme Board (PPB) reports are used to monitor expenditure, categorizing spend and comparing actuals against budget and forecast.

However, the audit did identify several areas for improvement. These included the need for greater consistency in monthly reporting to governance boards. Specifically, this involves ensuring the inclusion of actual project spend against the budget and forecast profile, and reporting risk and issue profiles with clearly defined criteria for escalation, potentially using an associated exposure score from the Risk Register. Progress updates against the milestone plan, stakeholder communications, and key decisions and outstanding actions from previous meetings should also be consistently included.

The documentation of contractor meetings and contract variations also requires strengthening to ensure transparency and cost control. To address this, improvements are being made to the recording of contractor meetings, with minutes now being taken by Arcadis as part of their reporting requirements. An action tracker is being maintained to ensure all actions are recorded and followed up. For contract variations, all change requests must now use a formal change request form, supplemented by email and formal documentation, with a clear audit trail of approvals. Provisional values will be assigned to variations with 'To Be Confirmed' costs, and all approved variations and their costs will be reflected in PPB reports. The Variation Change Register will be regularly updated.

Furthermore, the audit noted the absence of a formal method for tracking project benefits, both financial and non-financial. The project is intended to deliver benefits such as rejuvenating the town centre and providing social value through contractor engagement. A formal benefits realization plan is being developed to include clear benefit descriptions, assigned owners, defined tracking metrics and baselines, and target dates. This will be integrated into the monthly project reporting cycle. Non-financial benefits, such as service improvements, user experience, compliance, and reputational gains, are also being identified and will be monitored alongside financial benefits. Benefit owners will be designated for tracking and reporting progress, with these arrangements defined following project closure. Project governance documents, such as the Project Execution Plan (PEP), will be updated to include benefit tracking requirements.

A draft communications strategy, sighted by the Sponsor Board in April 2025, outlines strategic objectives, messaging pillars, channels, and milestone-linked communications actions. Key elements include mapping planned communications activities, such as recurring updates and milestone-based communications, with defined dates and responsibilities for both Richmond Council and the contractor. The potential implications of its delayed formal approval include a risk of stakeholders not receiving timely or consistent updates, leading to reduced confidence, miscommunication, and reputational impact.

Management has agreed to all recommendations, with implementation dates ranging from December 2025 to April/May 2026. Progress on these recommendations has been described as strong, with all recommendations due by their target dates having been completed. The Public reports pack for the Audit, Standards and Statutory Accounts Committee meeting on Thursday 26 February 2026 provides further context.

The identified areas for improvement present risks such as ineffective oversight due to incomplete reporting, project delays from lost decisions in contractor meetings, and budget overruns from unvalidated contract variations. The absence of structured benefit tracking could lead to an inability to demonstrate value for money. Mitigation strategies include routine reporting of actual project spend, maintaining an action tracker for contractor meetings, developing a formal benefits realization plan, and updating the communications strategy for approval. Financial responsibilities are being clarified, and reconciliation checks are being implemented for financial reports. A lessons learned log is also being developed.