Renzo Piano's studio prepares to sue over €300,000 City Gate non-payment

Renzo Piano's architecture studio has given the Maltese government two days to fork out €300,000 it says it is still owed for works on the Valletta parliament and City Gate project.  In a judicial letter filed today, Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW) said that the Grand Harbour Regeneration Project was refusing to pay the outstanding amount, in violation of an ancillary agreement signed in March 2015.  The contractual tussle is not a new one: in its letter, RPBW said that it had spent "several months" trying to understand what was holding up the payment and resolve the matter amicably, "but no valid reason was ever given."  The world-famous architecture firm was contracted to design the City Gate project in 2009 and signed a further contract in 2015 after delays bogged down the project.  That agreement, RPBW is arguing, assured the workshop of a further €300,000 once the project had reached the stage of "practical completion".  The new Parliament building was officially inaugurated in May 2015 and has hosted Malta's MPs ever since.   It was GHRC's responsibility, the architecture firm has said, to ensure that Bovis, the project management firm tasked with overseeing works,...