Contractors in court battle over Wembley fiasco

The fiasco over delayed completion of the new £757m (€1bn) Wembley Stadium moves to the British High Court today.

A specialist judge in the Technology and Construction Court in London will begin hearing a complex, multi-million-pound legal clash between Australian main contractors Multiplex and the company which built the project’s distinctive steel arch, Darlington-based Cleveland Bridge.

Each side is suing the other for “repudiatory” breach of contract – a breach so fundamental the aggrieved party may treat the contract as terminated and sue for damages.

Multiplex, which blames its sub-contractor at least in part for the delays which have bedevilled development of the new 90,000-seat national stadium, is seeking up to £45m (€65m).

Cleveland is counter-claiming £25m (€36m).

At the centre of the lawsuit is a 2004 agreement in which the two sides attempted to resolve a series of disputes concerning cost overruns by re-evaluating Cleveland’s work.

In a statement issued in advance of today’s hearing, Cleveland said it would seek to establish “that Multiplex, in revaluing Cleveland’s work on July 16 2004 by deducting circa £14m (€20.2m) from their account and in failing to make payment of £1.25m (€1.8m) in respect of monies previously agreed to be paid for the lifting of the arch, were in repudiatory breach of contract, entitling Cleveland to cease all further work in relation to the same from August 2 that year”.

The court hearing, before Mr Justice Jackson, is set for up to four weeks.

Delays in completion of the prestigious Wembley complex have resulted in major sporting events being moved to other venues, including Twickenham and Cardiff’s Millennium Stadium.