Icon to sue North Sydney Council for $28m lawsuit over botched pool redevelopment

It’s been plagued by delays, budget blowouts and a scathing independent review. Now, the North Sydney Olympic pool is set for another headline grabbing chapter - this time, inside a courtroom.

Global construction company Icon is suing North Sydney Council for $28m over the botched redevelopment of the iconic North Sydney Olympic pool.

The Daily Telegraph can reveal the troubled project, which has been plagued by delays, huge budget blowouts and a scathing independent review, is set for another headline-grabbing chapter, this time inside a Sydney courtroom.

Lawyers for Icon on Monday filed a claim for damages against the under-fire council in the NSW Supreme Court, alleging multiple breaches of its multi-million dollar contract to rebuild the 90-year-old harbourside pool.

They are also seeking a formal extension of time to complete the works, which would push back the July 2025 scheduled opening even further.

North Sydney Olympic Pool pictured before it was closed for redevelopment.

But a council spokesperson told the Telegraph the proceedings were not expected to delay the delivery of the project and it was

“committed to completing the project and opening the facility for the community as soon as possible”.

According to a summons filed with the court, Icon claims significant flaws were identified in the first design of the upper roof, forcing a complex redraw by council contractors that they allege was continually changed as construction progressed.

Icon alleges the need for the redesign, together with close to 300 modifications to the plans over an 18-month period, caused significant delays to the project and led to a massive blow out in costs.

They claim those additional costs included dismantling already erected structures, removing material no longer required, purchasing new equipment and materials, delaying and replacing subcontractors to perform work on the site, and in one case, the need to hire a tower crane and its four-man crew.

“Icon says that the time taken to revise the upper roof design and the revisions to the upper roof design and associated works caused icon to incur additional costs and delay on the project,” the summons read.

An artist’s view of what the revamp will look like.

The pool is now a construction site. Picture: John Appleyard

“Icon claims an extension of time and adjustment to the contract sum, the repayment of liquidated damages levied by North Sydney Council and/or damage for breach of contract.”

Icon is seeking $28m in damages for breach of contract, an adjustment to the overall contract sum, a formal extension of time and legal costs.

The case has been set down for a preliminary directions hearing before Justice James Stevenson next week.

An Icon spokesperson said the company remained focused on completing the project “later this year”.

“While it is disappointing that we have been forced to initiate legal proceedings over delays caused by significant flaws in the design of the North Sydney pool development by council’s design consultants, Icon continues to work cooperatively with council to progress the project,” the spokesperson said.

“These delays were first encountered more than 18 months ago and Icon remains focused on the timely completion of the pool.”

The legal development is the latest in a string of woes for the pool project, which was originally forecast to take 18 months to complete and cost $64m.

It has now ballooned out to $122m, care of the ongoing delays and construction issues, which included errors that forced parts of the multimillion-dollar project to be dismantled and replaced.

An artist’s impression of the final product.

The construction has been plagued by delays and is now scheduled to open in July 2025. Picture: John Appleyard

A scathing independent review by consultancy firm PricewaterhouseCoopers in 2023 found North Sydney Council did not give consideration to all costs, such as internal project management, equipment and fit-outs, and did not provide sufficient contingencies when budgeting for the project.

The sharp increase in costs has already had ramifications for other local infrastructure and community projects including town centre upgrades and roadworks that the council last year “deferred” as part of cost saving measures.

The council spokesperson said the council would review the legal documents before deciding it’s next move.

“As legal proceedings are now underway, council will not be making any further comment at this time,” the spokesperson said.

Meanwhile, the councillors themselves came under fire last month when they voted in favour of seeking a whopping 87 per cent rate rise over three years, despite an outage from angry residents.

The proposed hike, which still has to be signed off by the Independent Pricing and Regulatory Tribunal (IPART), is expected to provide $558m in incremental revenue for the besieged council, if approved.