Judgement has been reserved on Bath and North East Somerset council’s Court of Appeal hearing to resolve its ongoing legal row with the main building contractor, Mowlem, over peeling paint at the new £7.8m Thermae Bath spa complex.

The Court of Appeal action follows the council gaining a High Court injunction in October 2003 against Mowlem, as the contractor was refusing another firm access to the site to solve the peeling paint problem.

Mr Justice Seymour at the High Court ruled that a rival firm could legally be used by the council to finish job, which the council did.

Mowlem’s fresh appeal on 13 January against this injunction rested upon its assertion that it shouldn’t be blamed for the state of the paint as the problem rested with the substance itself, which it was told to use in the project specifications.

The judgement upon this appeal currently has no fixed date for a decision to be made. Details: www.bathspa.co.uk