Venice to sue Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava for 'construction defects' in railway footbridge
Monday, January 13, 2014 @ 11:41 AM
VENICE city council plans to sue Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava for repairs it has had to carry out on the Ponte della Costituzione ('Constitution Bridge') across the famous Grand Canal.
Calatrava, who designed the whole of Valencia's City of Arts and Sciences, created the plans for and oversaw the building of the Venice bridge before it was officially opened in November 2008.
But since then, the north-east Italian 'water city' has had to pay out around 464,000 euros to repair 'construction defects' found since.
This cash sum is only around 10 per cent of the amount Calatrava will be sued for, and which is supported by a report from Torino Polytechnic University, requested by city court judge Francesco Spaccasassi.
The total comes to around four million euros relating to 'additional costs' not envisaged in the initial design and which were needed to complete the bridge.
Calatrava's solicitors have appealed against the claim, saying the bridge was merely designed by the architect and he was not appointed as supervisor of works, meaning the actual construction process and costs were out of his hands.
The Ponte della Costituzione links the Santa Lucia railway station with the Piazza di Roma bus park, and was originally due to cost 3.8 million euros.
Read more at thinkSPAIN.com