December 31, 2018

City of Ottawa sues contractor and architects over leaking Glebe garage

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The City of Ottawa is suing the contractor and architects who built a four-storey parking garage in the Glebe, claiming that the garage is prone to unacceptable leaking.

The city is asking for $1.75 million in damages from Laurin General Contractor, Architecture 49 Inc. and PBK Architects.

The municipal garage on Second Avenue west of Bank Street has 141 spaces and was built to provide parking for Lansdowne. The city’s claim says poor waterproofing on the top level allowed water to leak into electrical conduits, service panels and wall joints, causing damage to the electrical systems, lights, security cameras, parked vehicles and concrete.

The work was done in late 2015 using a neoprene membrane under the asphalt. The garage opened in 2016, and the city document says leakage started to appear during the first winter of operation.

Dennis Laurin, the president of the contracting firm, said he was surprised to hear of the lawsuit on Saturday. He acknowledged there is a leaking problem.

“There is a performance issue specifically with a membrane there on the top floor. That’s really the core problem,” he said.

“We, as constructors, are responsible for corralling men and machines to deliver” on the contract, “and the material is not fit for purpose,” he said.

“The city and consultant and us, we all recognize that and we are working to correct it. That is why I’m very, very surprised that litigation has been initiated.”

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