The dispute between Richard Rogers Partnership and the Welsh assembly took a new turn this week after the assembly was ordered to pay Rogers nearly £450,000 in fees.
The ruling was made in an adjudication called after the architect was sacked from the £27m Welsh assembly project last year.

Rogers was dismissed by finance minister Edwina Hart, who alleged that the architect had allowed the cost of the building to spiral out of control. Rogers denied that this was the case.

In December 2001, Rogers began adjudication to obtain payment of outstanding fees. The assembly countered with a £6.9m claim for damages, arguing that Rogers had been negligent.

The assembly’s claim was rejected and Rogers was awarded compensation.

The adjudicator found there was no substance in the allegations

Richard Rogers

In a statement last week, Hart said the adjudicator had agreed with the assembly that Rogers’ claim for fees was too high. The practice had originally asked for £530,000.

In a confidential statement to assembly members, Rogers said this was untrue. He said the practice could not reclaim the extra £80,000 as adjudication rules state that claims must be for a full month’s work. The £80,000 covered a period of only 17 days.

Rogers also denied that he had mismanaged the project. Rogers said: “[The adjudicator] found that there was no substance in the assembly’s allegations, completely dismissed its claim for damages, awarded them nothing and required them to pay … costs.”