In the case between Barratt Redrow and engineering consultancy URS, judges ruled that “it is necessary for a developer to be able to bring onward claims against those ultimately responsible as a matter of justice”.
BDW Trading, which owns Barratt Redrow and David Wilson Homes, discovered design defects in two sets of multiple high-rise residential building in 2019 during its post-Grenfell Tower investigations. In March 2020, whilst carrying out remediation works for the developments, BDW Trading brought a claim against URS Corporation Ltd, the structural engineering consultancy it hired for the schemes, claiming negligence and seeking to recover the costs of the remedial works.
In 2021 a High Court ruling on preliminary issues allowed BDW’s case to proceed, and BDW also sought to expand its claim under the extended liability introduced by the Building Safety Act (BSA) in 2022. URS, in turn, appealed the initial ruling all the way to the Supreme Court. URS, a UK-registered subsidiary of US-based global engineering firm AECOM, cited four grounds in its appeal, including the argument that BDW carried out the repairs voluntarily, not having been under any legal obligation to do so.
The Supreme Court has now dismissed URS’s appeal on all four grounds, clearing the way for Barratt to continue its negligence claim against URS, the merits of which have yet to be determined.
Commenting on the judgment, David Savage, Partner in our Construction, Engineering & Projects team, explains in a range of titles, including Property Week, Building, Construction Index and Housing Today, that the judgment marked a “significant clarification of the legal routes available to developers seeking redress for fire safety defects in the wake of the Grenfell tragedy”. David continues:
This judgment will be welcomed by developers. It provides a clear endorsement of the recovery routes for their losses associated with remedying fire safety related defects, against those responsible for the issues arising, including as modified by the BSA.
Read the full article in Property Week here.
Related coverage:
