City, contractor sue, countersue over fire station projects
Carys Mills, Ottawa Citizen
Published on: May 28, 2014, Last Updated: May 28, 2014 4:14 PM EDT
The architectural contractor for two Ottawa fire stations has taken the city to court, alleging it hasn’t been paid for some work on stations in Barrhaven and Kanata.
Legal action began when CSV Consultants Inc. moved to sue the city for $167,611.20 last year. The city has denied the allegations in a statement of defence and counter claim seeking $778,859.02.
The contractor’s statement of claim says construction delays, including holdups involving steel and brick, ultimately cost the company but were out of its control and unrelated to its own services.
CSV alleges the city agreed to revised construction schedules and necessary work but later, in December 2011, refused to pay for some work. The city didn’t tell the architects or subcontractors that “this additional work would not be compensated,” the claim states.
None of the firm’s or city’s claims has been proven in court.
“The City counterclaimed to recover the additional costs that it has incurred as a result of CSV’s alleged negligence in providing services and the below standard services provided under the contract,” city solicitor Rick O’Connor said in an email.
The city’s defence and counter claim alleges CSV was delayed in providing construction documents for the Barrhaven and Kanata West stations, resulting in corresponding delays. The firm was hired for both projects in 2009, according to court documents.
“Both fire station projects were marked by over 100 change items, many of which resulted in change orders,” states the city’s claim, which goes on to say that “most of the change orders arose from design deficiencies and lack of coordination of the components of the work that were the responsibility of (CSV).”
The city claims it has paid CSV all the money it’s owed and that the municipality was forced to pay more than $775,000 in contractor fees because of “delays to the project and design deficiencies that were the responsibility” of CSV.
CSV, which declined to comment Wednesday, denied those allegations in a defence to the counterclaim filed in court in February. The company said it “denies it was ever responsible for ensuring the proper progress of construction” and that other contractors are responsible for some delays, as well as the city changing the site for the Barrhaven project.
Engineering contractors have since been named in a third-party claim, filed by CSV in March, which says that if the city can prove its allegations then CSV is owed money by the those contractors.
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