A dispute between the company building a new patient tower at the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria and the subcontractor that did the concrete work won’t add to the cost for taxpayers or affect the building's quality, the project manager said yesterday.

“We wouldn’t be continuing to put bricks on it if we were preparing to pull it down,” said Rudi van den Broek, the chief project officer for the Vancouver Island Health Authority.

Rumors about problems with the building started circulating after an extra layer of concrete had to be added to make floors as flat as the contract calls for, said van den Broek. “People have been interpreting it as some sort of repair.”

As is standard in large projects, the concrete was poured with a curved surface so that it would be flat when it is done hardening after several months, he said. In this case it was necessary to put another top layer on the concrete so it would dry flat, he said.

The contract for the hospital, which is being built as a public-private partnership, sets a high standard for flatness since the building will be full of things on wheels including machinery and patient stretchers, he said, adding the contractor is required to deliver it to that standard.

“It’s not costing us anything,” he said.

It is, however, a source of disagreement between Acciona Lark Joint Venture, the company with the contract to build the hospital, and Campbell Construction Ltd., the company that did the concrete work. Said van den Broek, “I believe there’s a cost associated with making it as flat as it needs to be and there are two different opinions on who gets to pay that.”

A representative of Acciona Lark referred the Tyee’s call to VIHA saying the contract forbids the company from talking publicly about the project.

“There are a lot of rumors floating about,” said John van den Hengel, the controller for Campbell Construction. He said he couldn’t talk about any potential problems with the tower other than to say his company’s work on it is complete. “We have fulfilled all our obligations,” he said. “We have built it according to the plans and specifications.”

There is a $280-million budget for the building itself, plus another $70-million in related projects.

Andrew MacLeod is The Tyee’s Legislative Bureau Chief in Victoria. Reach him here.