Laing O’Rourke is taking on architect BDP for £1.8m over an alleged unsafe cladding job on a residential building in Bury, Lancashire
BDP completed mixed-use shopping centre scheme The Rock in 2010 after signing a design and build contract in 2008. BDP had their architecture contract novated from Thornfield Bury Develoments Limited to Laing O’Rourke.
However, in 2017 the safety of cladding on 18m residential building Block C was called into question.
Laing O’Rourke claims the cladding system did not comply with regulations
An investigation found Kingspan K15 Insulation in the external wall build ups, which meant the cladding system was not compliant. Laing O’Rourke agreed to remediate the building, with works completing in April 2021. The job involved replacing the insulation in 1,722m2 of the building’s external wall for
£1,842,184.99.
The business is now seeking £1,834,097.12 in damages from BDP. The claims document has not yet been submitted, but the legal action was outlined in a separate court case’s documents written by BDP.
BDP has instead taken out a claim against Kingspan
The Building Safety Act 2022 allows Building Liability Orders to be served on a company’s related parties, if it is unable to pay. BDP acknowledges that it produced specifications including K15 Insulation, but denies liability to Laing O’Rourke and is yet to publish a defence for the lawsuit.
Meanwhile, BDP has launched a retalitory case against Kingspan Holdings, Kingspan Group and Kingspan PLC, alleging that they are jointly liable if any fault is found in Laing O’Rourke’s case.
BDP claims that Kingspan ‘acted dishonestly in representing that K15 Insulation, used in the external wall build up of buildings over 18m, complied with relevant Building Regulations’.
Flyers, guidance and a technical bulletin produced by Kingspan Insulation about its K15 Insulation product were cited by BDP in the case, who alleged that they contain false or misleading statements. The findings of the phase 2 Grenfell Tower Inquiry are also quoted as evidence: “BDP acted on the representations that K15 Insulation could be included in an external wall make up which complied with the relevant Building Regulations and that the use of K15 Insulation in the external wall make up of buildings over 18m could help maintain life and property.”
BDP also accused Kinsgpan as either knowing the representations “were false” or “was reckless as to whether the representations were true”.
“Subject to the outcome of the Lang O’Rourke claim, BDP has suffered a loss on account of the representations made by Kingspan Insulation in relation to the performance of K15 Insulation,” it concluded.
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