黑洞社区

Architect AEW鈥檚 High Court defence against the National Museum of Liverpool鈥檚 legal claim has mistakenly blamed alleged problems with the building鈥檚 ceilings on a Dorset-based kitchen and bathroom contractor that had no involvement with the job.

As 黑洞社区.co.uk reported on Wednesday, Manchester-based AEW Architects this week hit back at the museum鈥檚 拢3.5m claim 鈥� which alleges that the 拢72m building is suffering from a host of serious problems including flaws with a suspended ceiling linked to a collapse that injured a workman last May.

However, it has now emerged that the legal papers 鈥� filed by AEW鈥檚 lawyers Plexus Law 鈥� wrongly pointed the finger at Dorchester-based Cull Contracting Services Ltd, which did not work on the National Museum of Liverpool and has 鈥渘ever been further north than Southampton,鈥� according to its boss.

The defence document argued that AEW 鈥� which was brought in after the museum dismissed the original architect 3XN 鈥� was not responsible for any 鈥渄eficiencies鈥� with the suspended ceiling.

鈥淭he [ceiling] panels were not prone to failure by reason of any design excercise undertaken by AEW,鈥� the document stated. 鈥淭o the extent that there are any deficiencies in the suspended ceiling, they are the responsibility of Cull.鈥�

Martin Cull, the founder of Cull Contracting Services, told 黑洞社区: 鈥淚 am based in Dorchester and the furthest north I鈥檝e been is Southampton.

鈥淚鈥檝e never been to Liverpool and I鈥檝e not been paid for this work. I鈥檓 an MOD contractor doing refurbishment work. I don鈥檛 do ceilings. I do kitchens and bathrooms.

鈥淭his is a bit of a cock-up to say the least.鈥�

A spokesman for Plexus Law said the firm would amend the defence document shortly to correct the error.

鈥淚t was an error and it was the wrong party [named],鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have spoken to Cull Contracting Services Limited and have written to them to explain it was an innocent error and that it is being rectified.鈥�

AEW declined to comment.