M&E firm sues Laing O’Rourke over Coventry stadium

M&E contractor Haden Young is suing Laing O’Rourke for £3.5m in a row over the construction of the £113m Coventry City football stadium.

The construction on the Ricoh stadium was delayed by problems including a site fire and bad weather. This meant that Haden Young had to accelerate work to ensure that it would open in time for the 2005 football season.

In its High Court writ, Haden Young says that although its initial tender named a price of £11.3m, this was never turned into a contract.

Haden Young claims that Laing O’Rourke instructed it to start work in anticipation of its being awarded a subcontract, but that this never happened.

The company says the extra cost incurred by its work brought the total cost of the job to £14.6m. Its claim of £3.5m represents the shortfall in what it was paid, together with damages caused by Laing O’Rourke’s refusal to pay. It is also claiming interest on this amount.

Haden Young’s work included the installation of ventilation, fire alarm, security, lighting and heating systems.

The stadium reached practical completion on 19 August 2005, a month later than planned.

These delays meant that Haden Young was still working on the scheme up until June 2006.

In its writ, the M&E specialist said: “Tasks were stopped and started depending on the overall demands of the project, and the progress of other trades. Each time this occurred time was lost.

“As a result of delays to the M&E works, acceleration measures were put into effect that required an increased labour force and progress on multiple faces at the same time.”

Laing O’Rourke and Haden Young declined to comment.