KPMB Architects blame City of Vaughan for $15M cost overrun on City Hall

Noor Javed Staff Reporter

The question of who’s to blame for millions of dollars in cost overruns for Vaughan’s new civic centre has the city embroiled in a lawsuit against the architect that designed the glitzy building.

The lawsuit attempts to put the blame squarely on the shoulders of world-renowned Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects (KPMB), which was hired to design the new city hall on Major Mackenzie Dr., and on Stantec Consulting, the engineering consultants who worked with KPMB on the project.

KPMB denies it caused the overruns. The company suggests in its statement of defence, filed earlier this month, that the city failed to follow proper practices on its part, including appointing a “competent and accountable” project manager.

Months before politicians and officials celebrated the official opening of the city hall in September, the city had already filed a $3.25 million suit against KPMB, alleging breach of contract and negligence in their work on the design and construction supervision. The city is suing Stantec for an additional $3.25 million for “deficiencies” in its work.

Filed in May 2011, the lawsuit claims “these problems have caused the city, in aggregate, many millions of dollars in extra cost.” The city hopes recover some of those costs.

Vaughan has already spent more than $122.6 million on the first phase of the civic centre project. The building was found to be $15.6 million over budget, but the final costs have yet to be determined.

“The claim was issued to protect the interest of the city and taxpayers,” said Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua.

According to the city’s statement of claim, major problems with the building include: mechanical rooms that are too small to store equipment, issues with sprinkler system drainage, pull stations/smoke detectors that were not compliant with the fire code, and design issues in the audio-visual room.

In their statement of defence, the architects deny the allegations and said they fulfilled all contractual obligations. The firm claims the delays were due to the “owner’s failure to adopt and execute proper owner construction practice, including the appointment of a competent and accountable project manager.”

The company is asking that the claim be dismissed and the firm be awarded costs. KPMB did not respond to the Star’s request for comment.

The cost overruns were outlined in detail in a scathing external audit commissioned by Vaughan City Council last June, which found there were insufficient policies and procedures in place for reporting between consultants, contractors and the city, and numerous miscalculations and change requests that pulled up the costs.

The lawsuit was not mentioned in the audit. But Bevilacqua said council was aware it had been filed before the audit was ordered. Regional Councillor Deb Schulte, who has been outspoken about the need for transparency about the costs of the project, says staff sent a memo to council, but the matter wasn’t discussed in detail.

Schulte, an engineer by profession, says she witnessed design issues when the building was under construction. She believes the lawsuit is a “good news story.”

“I am pleased that people are being held accountable to the quality of their work,” she said. “And if it has cost us a lot of money in overruns and taxpayers’ dollars because of that, then those people have to be held accountable. That’s what the lawsuit is trying to do.”

In addition, the city’s general contractor, Maystar, is being sued by one of its subcontractors. The city has been named in the suit because it is the owner of the property, but has not been required to participate in the proceedings.

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KPMB Architects blame City of Vaughan for $15M cost overrun on City Hall