Judge orders Yukon contractor to pay $2.3M for botched Whitehorse airport apron replacement

A judge has ordered a Yukon contractor to pay the territorial government more than $2 million for the botched replacement of the apron at the Whitehorse airport.

However, in a decision issued Nov. 14, Yukon Supreme Court deputy Justice Adele Kent found the government and an engineering firm also bore responsibility for the project going sideways.

Norcope Enterprises Ltd. replaced the airport apron the area where planes park, also called the tarmac in 2014 after being awarded a $3.5-million contract, but the newly-poured concrete began cracking the same year.

The Yukon government sued Norcope in 2017 for what it said was deficient work onthe contractor's part. Norcope counter-sued, claiming any problems were the result of the government ignoring its advice or not providing it with enough information.

Norcope also brought engineering firm Tetra Tech into the legal melee. The firm was contracted to provide concrete mix as well as quality control services to Norcope for the project, but at the same time, also had a quality assurance contract with the Yukon government for the same work.

The matter went to trial earlier this year. Among the key issues were that silt was not removed before putting the new apron down something that wasn't required under the work contract but that made the apron subject to frost heaves and a poorly-formulated concrete mix that was "coarser than desirable," "difficult to pour" and the consistency of which was improperly adjusted with water but was used anyway.

In her decision, Kent found that the liability for the apron's defects was split between all three parties. She assigned 50 per cent of the blame to Tetra Tech for the lack of quality control and assurance as well as the "problematic mix design" of the concrete; 35 per cent to Norcope for "poor construction practices;" and 15 per cent to the Yukon for "failure to essentially pay attention to what was happening on the project."

Kent also found the total damages for the situation amounted to $9,926,000 the cost to fully replace the apron, but not including the price to remove the silt as it wasn't a requirement in the original contract. The judge deducted part of the cost to account for the fact that the Yukon had use of the apron for eight years, bringing the damages to $6,749,680, for which Norcope was responsible for $2,362,388.

The Yukon government and Tetra Tech previously reached a settlement which was unaffected by Kent's decision.

The government has also since had the apron re-done by another contractor.