Western Isles Council may consider taking legal action over a flagship new sports centre which has been plagued by construction problems.
Ionad Spòrs Leòdhais, the £ 7 million sports facility and swimming pool in Stornoway, has never been formally finalised despite being used by the public since 2004.
Embarrassingly, no date can be set for an official opening despite its 4th anniversary looming.
The council’s own building control department has refused to officially sign off the centre so it requires a series of temporary occupancy certificates to allow people to use it.
The council believes that J M Architects who were the design team is financially liable for nearly £ 1 million. Both sides hired lawyers and specialist building solicitors over the row about three years ago.
This week fresh attempts were being made to repair the roof.
According to secret council documents water has always leaked through the roof despite numerous repair works.
The facility was shut for two months until February this year for the contractor to replace damaged pool tiles.
A pre-tender costing report was not available until it was too late to curb an estimated £ 570,000 overspend.
Matters were made worse by the council voting to spend a further £203,000 on a second squash court and bleacher seating.
Delays set in and the contractor was blaming the architects for slow instructions.
The council maintains some works like parts of the electrical installation were missing from the initial contract.
The council is astonished that it cost around £ 120,650 to build a door between the health suite and the swimming pool. The authority says it was never told that an expensive air unit would also be installed and that it never authorised it.
The council believes that a huge delay in getting a gas supply on site cost it around £ 226,300.
It is understood that no legal proceedings have been initiated but has not been ruled out.
A council spokesperson confirmed: "There are outstanding legal matters with the design team but not with the contractor."
