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By May, the city and arena corporation began to discover design errors and omissions, said the statement of claim.

“As the arena continues to be constructed, additional errors and omissions continue to be discovered by EAC and the city, as may be proven at trial.”

Allegations contained in the statement of claim have not been proven in court.

In one alleged omission, “360/HOK failed to specify the type of backfill required for the space between the arena and adjacent LRT structure … In the absence of such information, (construction manager) PCL began using clay backfill in that space.”

Only afterwards did the design team specify that granular backfill be used instead of clay. It cost $242,000 to correct the problem, the statement said.

Another allegation claimed 360/HOK failed to include a provision for a natural gas refuelling station for Zambonis and forklifts. A fix cost $188,000.

Other issues were less costly to repair. Changing the ceramic tile in the Loge Restaurant to a less porous quarry tile cost $22,000.

A joint statement from the EAC and the city said that the legal action was necessary to protect their legal interests, but downplayed its significance.

“Within the context of a project in excess of $600 million, a claim in the amount of ($4.7 million) is in no way unusual,” said the statement.

“As part of managing this project, the project team exercised the additional diligence of placing project insurance to cover this very kind of claim. The project team continues to be diligent to ensure we receive the level of quality for which the owners contracted and the construction of Rogers Place remains on time and on budget. We will be opening Rogers Place in September 2016 as planned.”

The statement said HOK architects will continue to work on any remaining design needs, “which are minimal as we are nearing completion of this project.”

The statement said there will be no further comment on the issue, as it is before the courts.

A spokeswoman for HOK did not immediately provide a comment from the company.

bmah@postmedia.com

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