Legal

Mace and client Sky have won a legal case against their insurers over a £56m bill to fix a problem roof on a building at the TV company’s headquarters. Mace was the main contractor on Sky Central, built at the Sky Campus in Osterley, West London, from 2014 to 2016,…

A "hugely significant" legal judgement has paved the way for decades-old cladding-related disputes to pass through the adjudication system. A High Court judge this week sided with BDW Trading - property developer Barratt Developments’ main trading arm – in a £14.5m dispute over building defects on a 2002 contract with…

A £15m legal claim over flammable cladding on a high-rise site in London has been paused pending a mediation procedure. Social housing provider London & Quadrant Housing Trust (L&Q) brought the claim for damages against Bouygues UK. L&Q claims a company it acquired previously fitted two 10-storey buildings with flammable…

Construction firms in Northern Ireland could get faster resolution of contractual or financial disputes under legislative proposals to update the arbitration framework. Stormont this week (9 December) backed the extension of the provisions of the Arbitration Bill, currently progressing through Westminster’s parliament, to Northern Ireland. The bill would see tweaks…

A court case that could create a ‘two strikes and you’re out’ precedent on late payments is set to head to the Supreme Court. In August, a Court of Appeal judge ruled that contractor Providence Building Services Ltd was within its rights to terminate a contract with Hexagon Housing Association…

A construction firm’s director has received a suspended six-month jail sentence after the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) uncovered failings to protect workers against falls from height. According to an HSE statement, staff working for roofing firm Weather Master Roofing were pictured repairing a roof in Dorking without scaffolding or…

A Surrey-based construction products and services provider has been fined more than £1m after a 24-year-old worker was crushed to death. Brand Energy & Infrastructure Services UK Ltd was given a £1.6m penalty at Brighton Magistrates’ Court this week, according to a statement from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE).…

An MP has accused the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) of carrying out a targeted campaign against a former apprenticeships officer who reported that a colleague sexually assaulted her. Aberdeenshire North and Moray East’s Seamus Logan detailed the case in Parliament during a debate on the use of legal threats…

A crane supplier has been cleared of health and safety breaches, seven-and-a-half years after three of its employees died at a construction site. Falcon Tower Crane Services was found not guilty of two counts of breaching the law at Chester Crown Court last week. Rhys Barker, 18, from Castleford, West…

Building services contractor Briggs & Forrester (B&F) caused a year-long delay on a high-rise site after it wrongly stopped work after a dispute, a High Court judge has ruled. The CN100 firm  had been contracted to revamp a smoke ventilation system at Manchester’s City Tower. But it halted its work after…