Kitchener Public Library

[The85]

Contractor sues city, architects for $7M over delays in library renovation
March 19, 2015 | Catherine Thompson | Waterloo Region Record

KITCHENER — The general contractor on the renovation and expansion of Kitchener's main library is suing the city and the architects on the project for $7 million, saying that hundreds of changes to the design led to costly delays.

The general contractor, Maystar General Contractors of Vaughan, filed a statement of claim last May, seeking $7,005,325.93 in damages from four parties: the City of Kitchener; LGA Architectural Partners of Toronto; Philip H. Carter of Toronto, an architect specializing in library design; and WalterFedy, a Kitchener firm that was responsible for the design of the parking garage and for engineering design for the overall project.

According to documents filed in court in Kitchener, the city and Maystar signed a contract in September 2010 that work would start on Nov. 1, 2010, and be substantially complete by March 1, 2013. Both the city and Maystar later agreed to change the completion date to April 3, 2013.

Kitchener's newly renovated central library reopened in May 2014, more than a year later than the date specified in the contract. The $49-million renovation and expansion added a two-storey extension and a three-level underground parking garage that is shared with other users, and fully renovated all three floors of the Queen Street building. The library remained open for much of the construction period, adding to the complexity of the project.

In its statement of claim, Maystar alleges that the city and three firms named in the lawsuit made "an excessive number of design changes," including 307 proposed changes, 273 more formal change orders and hundreds of requests for information...

FULL ARTICLE HERE