A writ for £3m was issued against the club, which owns the stadium, two weeks ago. This was amended at the end of last week to add a claim for a further £1m. McAlpine declined to comment.
The contractor believes it is owed the money under the last valuation for its work on the project, which was finished in May. The client, however, experienced a funding shortfall, which meant that it was unable to make the last payment. “The contract called for 36 monthly payments, which we met,” said Austin Reilly, director of the National Stadium Company, which runs the new stadium on behalf of parent company Queens Park Football Club.
“We have been a meticulous client but sadly find we have a funding gap on the 37th payment,” he said. “The last two valuation certificates took us through the funding threshold.”
Reilly said he was unhappy to be put in the situation of fighting a legal action for £4m, as Queens Park had hoped to negotiate a solution before McAlpine amended its writ.
The first writ was served within a month of a certificate being issued valuing McAlpine’s work.
“We thought it a wee bit sharp to receive a writ for £3m within a calendar month,” said Reilly. “Then as we were debating how to meet the funding gap, another valuation came through last week for another £1m, which was much more than we thought it would be.”
The project has been funded by the Millennium Commission, the National Lottery Sports Fund, the Scottish Office, European regional development funding, the Glasgow Development Agency and Glasgow City Council.
The refurbishment of the stadium was originally expected to cost £47m, but costs have now climbed to £60m.
A spokesperson for the Millennium Commission said: “We are trying to establish how the £13m overspend came about. However, it is not unusual for costs to increase on projects.” The commission’s £23m contribution to the project was match-funded by other interests.
Reilly admitted that the company has overspent, but said that not all the £13m extra had gone on construction. “The construction element of the project has gone up to a total of about £52m. We regret having been put in such a situation; we are working hard to meet the funding gap,” he said.
