Qld school embroiled in legal stoush over $5m auditorium build

A southeast Queensland school with more than 800 students is embroiled in a legal stoush with a construction company over its new $5m auditorium.

The Lutheran Church of Australia Queensland District is suing a Brisbane building company after it withdrew from a project to build a new auditorium at the school.

A southeast Queensland school is embroiled in a legal stoush with a construction company over their new $5m auditorium.

The Lutheran Church of Australia Queensland District, trading as Prince of Peace Lutheran College (Prince of Peace), has sued builder Herron Coorey Pty Ltd in the District Court in Brisbane for breach of contract.

The co-ed Christian college in Brisbane’s Everton Hills, which has more than 800 students, alleges in its claim filed in court on December 22, that Herron Coorey’s repudiation of a July 2022 contract to build its auditorium caused it to suffer damages of about $703,016.

The college alleges that on August 30, 2022, Herron Coorey director Nick Herron emailed the school’s business manager Stephen Greener and told him “it had withdrawn from the project and would not complete” it.

Three months later the school hired builder Warrell Constructions to build the two-storey auditorium with general learning areas and specialist spaces and paid them $5,028,004, the claim states.

This was $685,257 more than the building contract price with Herron Coorey, the claim states.

Herron Coorey, based in the inner-Brisbane suburb of Albion, was selected by Prince of Peace as the head contractor for the project in July 2022 after it submitted a tender offer for the construction of the project to Sydney architectural firm Bickerton Masters, the claim states.

The damages claim includes project management costs and legal costs.

No defence has been filed and no date has been set for hearing.