Kier Northern built the council’s £17m flagship leisure centre, known as DG One, which opened back in 2008.

But since then the facilities have been plagued with problems and closed several times for repair works, including retiling.

The legal action was approved this week during a meeting of the council’s Policy and Resources Committee to recover the cost of the work and all other “reasonable costs and losses”.

Now the council has decided to put in place a plan for a full set of remedial works due to start in January 2014.

This will see “dryside” facilities shut for about four months, with the “wetside” out of commission for a further 13 months.

Council leader Ivor Hyslop told the BBC: “We are all extremely disappointed and frustrated with the situation with DG One.

“The council is now taking the necessary steps to address the issues with the building.

“I look forward to receiving a number of reports in the up and coming months on how we are addressing these issues.”

A statement from Kier said: “Yesterday’s meeting was the first time we have seen any value stated as to the extent of a claim from the council.

“We have always responded swiftly to any problems notified to us, and rectified all items that were our responsibility at our cost and within timescales agreed with the council.

“We are currently compiling a response to the alleged defects, which we are due to send to the council within the next few days, and we will continue to work with them to address and resolve any issues that are the responsibility of Kier.”