| West Berkshire Council has successfully secured a significant compensation payment for the problems that occurred during the construction of the roof at Newbury Library. The claim against structural engineers, the Morton Partnership will net the Council £456,000.
Problems with the design of the roof purlins led to the need for remedial action to the roof and columns, and a delay in the opening of the Library.
Commenting on the settlement, Corporate Director Nick Carter said: "Whilst it has taken a long time to settle, we have recovered all our costs with a significant interest payment added to it. The problems were not of the Council's making and this is reflected in the settlement we have now received. We can now put this issue behind us and look forward to the library's 5th birthday celebrations in July."
Mike Rodger, Executive Councillor for Culture and Leisure, commented:
“The Liberal Democrat Group at West Berkshire is delighted with the news that the long running saga of the building of the library is now at an end. Our robust stance that was taken has been vindicated and we have received the insurance pay out we deserve. We have been accused by the Tories of poor project management, and this result shows that they were wrong again, and that the fault lay elsewhere. We would like to thank the Officer team for their excellent work in achieving this result.” | 
