The University of Iowa is suing the two contractors who developed and installed the windows in the UI Stead Family Children’s Hospital.

Kimberly Hunter, interim chief executive officer and chief nursing executive at UI Hospitals and Clinics, said the windows installed in 2017, when the children’s hospital was built, have “cracks and blemishes,” and the contracting companies didn’t meet the requirements of their respective contracts.

“The construction of the children’s hospital was an investment in Iowa and we relied on and paid contractors to deliver a high-quality product,” Hunter said. “Unfortunately, the contractors have not accepted responsibility for replacing the defective windows, so we are forced to file a lawsuit.”

Hunter said the windows were installed too recently to be having these issues.

“We’ve worked with the contractors just to say, these windows are defective,” she said. “The building is five years old, and the windows shouldn’t have this happening. So we need to replace them.”

Hunter said UI Hospitals and Clinics has identified different sets of windows in the building that need replacing, it is unclear how many windows total will need to be replaced. She added that UI Hospitals and Clinics will continue to monitor all of their windows.

“Should others be identified that need to be replaced, we would do so,” she said.

UI Hospitals and Clinics has already taken steps to mitigate the issues of the defective windows, installing protective film and clips, Hunter said.

Hunter said it’s too early to know the full cost of the replacements, but the UI will bring those costs to the Board of Regents for anything needed to fix the issue.