The city of Edmonton is still trying to figure out the source of the leaks plaguing its new police building, but has filed an $8 million lawsuit against almost 40 individuals and groups related to the project.
The new Edmonton Police Service Northwest Campus was set to be unveiled sometime in late 2019, but the city, in July, announced that the facility would not be ready in time due to structural problems.
The project, originally priced at $107 million, is now estimated at costing $112 million due to the additional repairs, CBC News reported. Last October, the city council approved another $4.6 million for the project – part of this funding will be used for litigation to recover the costs of the delays.
Edmonton has named contractor PCL Construction and IBI Group Architects among the defendants in the lawsuit.
“We hold everybody accountable,” said Jesse Banford, acting branch manager of infrastructure. “They’re working with us, we’re working with them to come to the right solution.”
In a recent statement, the city revealed that it is still working with contractors and consultants to repair the building.
“Very similar to the report we had in July, there [were] leaks within the facility, from July we started doing a lot of the destructive testing, investigation,” Banford explained.
Banford added that on top of identifying the leak source, the current freeze-thaw weather is the perfect opportunity to see if the repairs are working as intended. He also said that the city is working to open the campus in spring this year.
