Architects sue Tshwane council for R44m

In an aftermath to project Phoenix - a competition run by the former Pretoria City Council for the design of new council headquarters after Munitoria burnt down - the architect firm which won the competition is claiming R44 million in damages from the Tshwane Metro Council.

The Pretoria High Court was due to hear the damages claim over the next two weeks, but the matter had to be postponed (to a date still to be determined) as the council had not paid its previous lawyers.

It had meanwhile instructed new lawyers, but the previous lawyers will not release the case files until they have been paid.

Meanwhile, the new lawyers cannot prepare for the lengthy and complex trial without those documents.

This was revealed in papers before court this week when Judge Mahomed Ismail was asked to postpone the matter.

The council undertook to pay for the wasted costs incurred by the postponement, which will mean ratepayers will have to foot the bill.

The damages claim by city architect firm Holm Jordaan & Partners is based on an agreement with the council regarding the rebuilding of Munitoria.

The firm said that after the building was gutted in a fire in 1997, it entered into an agreement with the council after having won the competition.

The firm had suffered R44m in damages as the council had cancelled the agreement, papers said.

The council told the firm at the time "the agreement entered into was not affordable" and said it no longer regarded itself bound by it.

Defending the claim, the council admitted that it had entered into an agreement with the firm as winner of the competition. But one of the rules was that the construction of the new building had to fall within the financial means of the council, which, it did not.

Following a feasibility study on the construction of the new building, it was decided not to proceed, but to investigate setting up a public-private partnership for the construction of the new headquarters, it said.

The council denied that there was any agreement with the architect firm after April 2003 in terms of which the firm was commissioned and appointed as architect for the building of the new municipal headquarters.

It admitted that the firm did render certain architectural services to the council relating to the design and planning of the new building, but said the firm was paid R3.2m for this and the council thus owed it nothing more.

These issues were to serve before court for the next two weeks. But Simon Sithole of the council's legal department, said in court papers it was impossible for the council's legal team to prepare. He denied claims by the architect firm that the council was deliberately trying to delay court proceedings in a bid to escape liability.

Sithole said the council also wanted the issue resolved, but problems with its former lawyers were hampering this. The council was late in paying its former lawyers, which had given the council the boot for non-payment.

But, Sithole said the council disputed some of the amounts on the lawyers' bill. He was "now aware that the disputed accounts have meanwhile been settled, payment of the accounts has been authorised and it is anticipated that payment will be done soon."

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