H & R Real Estate Investment Trust, the owner of The Bow building, has launched a $50 million lawsuit against development, construction, and architectural firms in connection with alleged building concerns not related to safety issues.

According to the ownership group, the 58 storey building, which opened in the spring of 2013 at a cost of $1.4 billion, has experienced issues with the hot and cold water riser systems, the roof’s swing stage, window heating and cooling systems as well as floor ventilation.

The lawsuit lists the defendants as:

  • Matthews Development
  • Ledcor Construction
  • Zeidler Partnership Architects
  • Cosentini Associates
  • Foster + Partners

H & R REIT issued the following statement to CTV Calgary in relation to the litigation filed with the Court of Queen's Bench in Calgary:

The Bow is an iconic Calgary structure, and was a major engineering undertaking.  As is typical following completion of construction, some design issues were discovered, the majority of which have been rectified with the balance to be completed shortly.   We have been working closely with the tenants of the building in the implementation of the remediation and we appreciate their co-operation throughout the process.  We have also been working closely with the building contractors and consultants during this process. 

The costs to remedy these issues have been funded by the owner, and this action is for reimbursement for these expenses from responsible third parties and their insurers, where applicable.

Construction lawyer Robert Schuett says the $50 million claim is likely proportional given the overall cost of the building.

“It’s a pretty unique building. It’s a very exciting building to have built,” explains Schuett, who is not involved in the lawsuit. “They were probably using technology that might be on the cutting edge so there might just be tweaking and fine tuning of that technology and that might be what some of these claims represent.:

H& R REIT’s allegations have not been proven in court. Representatives of the defendants named in the lawsuit did not respond to CTV Calgary’s interview requests or elected not to speak on camera.