Easton Masonry (Portland) Ltd, the company who used French Anstrude Roche Claire limestone to build the new south portico of the Great Court Scheme of the British Museum when the Museum thought Portland stone was being used, are trying to recover money retained by the Museum.

According to a PricewaterhouseCooper report on the matter in 2001 the Museum had retained £370,000 of the £1.7million contract for the portico.

In the report, PricewaterhouseCooper said the fact that Easton Masonry (Portland) Ltd\'s bid was £1.2million less than the next lowest bid should have constituted a warning.

Since then Camden Council, the planning authority, has decided to take no action under planning regulations and the Criminal Prosecution Service has told the Metropolitan Police, who were investigating the matter, that there is insufficient evidence to make the prospect of obtaining a conviction realistic.

Easton Masonry (Portland) Ltd are now arguing that they should be paid in full. Both sides put their cases in London at the beginning of July.

Since it became known that French rather than British stone was used to make the portico, the stone company have argued that they fulfilled the specification for "Portland or similar".

Note: Easton Masonry (Portland) Ltd should be distinguished from Easton Masonry (UK) Ltd. Easton Masonry (Portland) Ltd operated from the same address on Portland, Dorset, as Easton Masonry (UK) Ltd now operate from and had many of the same personnel. Stephen Mold, the managing director of Easton Masonry (UK) Ltd told NSS in 2001: "I specifically made no comment about it to anybody and I wouldn\'t break that now because it\'s nothing to do with me."