Judge tells Mowlem to let Warings on Bath Spa site

A High Court judge ruled today (Friday) that Mowlem must let Warings staff onto the Bath Spa site to remove an allegedly faulty paint lining from the thermal spas.

Judge Rchard Seymour QC ordered Mowlem, which maintains it did not do a poor job on the paintwork, to let Warings on to the site to grit-blast the paint away and allow for a new coating.

He said that the effect of not doing so would be "to sterilise in some sort of limbo the completion of the Bath Spa project for who knows how long".

Mowlem had fought the moves to allow a second contractor onto the site, claiming that the process would destroy evidence that it had applied the paint correctly, according to the specifications laid down by architect Nicholas Grimshaw & Partners. It insisted it was still the main contractor and would carry out remedial work.

However, Bath & North East Somerset District Council applied to the court for an 'open up' injunction after Mowlem failed to comply with the architect's notice asking it to open up its works to Warings.

Granting the injunction, the judge said he was in no way ascribing any blame for the paintwork problems to Mowlem, and added that it was "wildly improbable" that the construction firm would suffer in any way as a result of the decision.

The injunction will remain in place until a full trial of the dispute between the parties over the paintwork.