main contractor on a project to build Millwood SEN School in Radcliffe<\/a>, Greater Manchester, for \u00a39.1m.<\/p>\nISG then appointed Longworth to design, supply and install the structural insulated panels (SIPs), roofing, cladding and rooflight works for the school.<\/p>\n
AtkinsR\u00e9alis \u2500 then known as Faithful + Gould, but owned by Atkins \u2500 was appointed to provide design and engineering professional services.<\/p>\n
The 5,600 square metre school was built for SEN students aged between two and 11. ISG finished the job in May 2012.<\/p>\n
But ISG\u2019s administrators said investigations in subsequent years showed the school\u2019s flat roof was \u201cseriously defective\u201d and in places became unstable, with some parts of the school declared unsafe.<\/p>\n
ISG had agreed to carry out remediation work for the council. But the contractor\u2019s administrators have now said the roof was defective \u201cas a result of flaws in its design and construction for which Longworth and\/or Atkins were responsible\u201d.<\/p>\n
They have claimed \u00a34m plus interest from the two firms, in relation to \u201cthe loss and damage […] suffered as a result of the defendants\u2019 breaches of duty in designing, constructing and providing services\u201d for the school roof.<\/p>\n
\u2018Not best practice\u2019<\/h3>\n
ISG\u2019s administrators allege that design and construction errors allowed moisture to enter the roof, causing some joints to deteriorate, while some steel beams were designed incorrectly.<\/p>\n
Prior to construction, SIP manufacturer SIPCO had advised that vapour control layers (VCLs) and ventilation should be installed in the roof to avoid \u201cmoisture effectively being trapped\u201d in the top face of the SIP panels.<\/p>\n
According to the administrator\u2019s claim document, in a technical note sent to Longworth, SIPCO described a lack of VCLs and ventilation in the proposed designs as \u201cnot best practice\u201d.<\/p>\n
However, Longworth sent only an excerpt of SIPCO\u2019s advice to AtkinsR\u00e9alis, omitting the page raising the VCL and ventilation concerns, ISG\u2019s administrators claim.<\/p>\n
Longworth also failed to reinforce the panel joints as suggested by structural engineers at Hugh Morrison Associates, the document adds.<\/p>\n
That meant the roof\u2019s structural performance was \u201cadversely affected by interstitial condensation\u201d, school attendees were not protected from condensation, and the roof did not meet building regulations, the claim states.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nIn addition, ISG\u2019s administrators argue that AtkinsR\u00e9alis designed steel roof beams that lacked adequate buckling resistance, failing to comply with Building Regulations and \u201censure the quality of its work\u201d.<\/p>\n
The defendants have until 23 January to file their defences to the court.<\/p>\n
After they file, ISG\u2019s administrators\u00a0will have up to three months to lodge their reply to the defence.<\/p>\n
EY and AtkinsR\u00e9alis declined to comment on the story.<\/p>\n
A spokesperson for Longworth Building Services said the firm was aware of the claim, adding that it \u201cintend[s] to vigorously defend it, with complete confidence of success\u201d.<\/p>\n
Timothy Vance and Alan Hudson from EY were appointed as ISG\u2019s administrators following its collapse, and Vance is carrying out the legal action on behalf of ISG\u2019s creditors.<\/p>\n
In October, Vance and Hudson said they were \u201cactively pursuing\u201d claims in court<\/a> to reclaim funds for ISG\u2019s creditors.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Administrators for ISG are pursuing a specialist contractor and AtkinsR\u00e9alis for \u00a34m worth of damages over an allegedly faulty school roof. The legal action has been launched against consultancy AtkinsR\u00e9alis PPS and roofing contractor Longworth Building Services over defects at a special educational needs (SEN) school it built in Bury, Greater Manchester. Documents seen by …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90643,"featured_media":533934,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ep_exclude_from_search":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[547,535,578],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-533264","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buildings","category-isg","category-legal","issue-online-news"],"yoast_head":"\n
ISG seeks \u00a34m damages over \u2018seriously defective\u2019 roof at SEN school | Construction News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Administrators for ISG are pursuing a specialist contractor and AtkinsR\u00e9alis for \u00a34m worth of damages over an allegedly faulty school roof. The legal\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"ISG seeks \u00a34m damages over \u2018seriously defective\u2019 roof at SEN school\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Administrators for ISG are pursuing a specialist contractor and AtkinsR\u00e9alis for \u00a34m worth of damages over an allegedly faulty school roof. The legal\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Construction News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CN.community\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-04T12:45:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/12\/Millwood_School_Aerial_2.webp\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"414\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/webp\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Joshua Stein\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@CNplus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@CNplus\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Joshua Stein\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Joshua Stein\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/482eae6a8521cf09396402a7e955effc\"},\"headline\":\"ISG seeks \u00a34m damages over \u2018seriously defective\u2019 roof at SEN school\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-04T12:45:32+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/\"},\"wordCount\":619,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/12\/Millwood_School_Aerial_2.webp\",\"articleSection\":[\"Buildings\",\"ISG\",\"Legal\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/\",\"name\":\"ISG seeks \u00a34m damages over \u2018seriously defective\u2019 roof at SEN school | Construction News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/12\/Millwood_School_Aerial_2.webp\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-04T12:45:32+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/482eae6a8521cf09396402a7e955effc\"},\"description\":\"Administrators for ISG are pursuing a specialist contractor and AtkinsR\u00e9alis for \u00a34m worth of damages over an allegedly faulty school roof. The legal\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/12\/Millwood_School_Aerial_2.webp\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/12\/Millwood_School_Aerial_2.webp\",\"width\":1024,\"height\":683},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"ISG seeks \u00a34m damages over \u2018seriously defective\u2019 roof at SEN school\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"Construction News\",\"description\":\"Read UK Construction Industry News, Analysis, Opinion and data\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/482eae6a8521cf09396402a7e955effc\",\"name\":\"Joshua Stein\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/09661283414c6a1a39b5867f8375fd1a\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/389df7f699e66c778382dc9b75d0d431e05c3bcf365a0418b8e7901b77e40c4b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/389df7f699e66c778382dc9b75d0d431e05c3bcf365a0418b8e7901b77e40c4b?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Joshua Stein\"},\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/author\/joshua-stein\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"ISG seeks \u00a34m damages over \u2018seriously defective\u2019 roof at SEN school | Construction News","description":"Administrators for ISG are pursuing a specialist contractor and AtkinsR\u00e9alis for \u00a34m worth of damages over an allegedly faulty school roof. The legal","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"ISG seeks \u00a34m damages over \u2018seriously defective\u2019 roof at SEN school","og_description":"Administrators for ISG are pursuing a specialist contractor and AtkinsR\u00e9alis for \u00a34m worth of damages over an allegedly faulty school roof. The legal","og_url":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/","og_site_name":"Construction News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CN.community","article_published_time":"2025-12-04T12:45:32+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/12\/Millwood_School_Aerial_2.webp","width":620,"height":414,"type":"image\/webp"}],"author":"Joshua Stein","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@CNplus","twitter_site":"@CNplus","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Joshua Stein","Estimated reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/"},"author":{"name":"Joshua Stein","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/482eae6a8521cf09396402a7e955effc"},"headline":"ISG seeks \u00a34m damages over \u2018seriously defective\u2019 roof at SEN school","datePublished":"2025-12-04T12:45:32+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/"},"wordCount":619,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/12\/Millwood_School_Aerial_2.webp","articleSection":["Buildings","ISG","Legal"],"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/","url":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/","name":"ISG seeks \u00a34m damages over \u2018seriously defective\u2019 roof at SEN school | Construction News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/12\/Millwood_School_Aerial_2.webp","datePublished":"2025-12-04T12:45:32+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/482eae6a8521cf09396402a7e955effc"},"description":"Administrators for ISG are pursuing a specialist contractor and AtkinsR\u00e9alis for \u00a34m worth of damages over an allegedly faulty school roof. The legal","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/12\/Millwood_School_Aerial_2.webp","contentUrl":"https:\/\/cdn.ca.emap.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/8\/2025\/12\/Millwood_School_Aerial_2.webp","width":1024,"height":683},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/legal\/isg-seeks-4m-damages-over-seriously-defective-roof-at-sen-school-04-12-2025\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"ISG seeks \u00a34m damages over \u2018seriously defective\u2019 roof at SEN school"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/","name":"Construction News","description":"Read UK Construction Industry News, Analysis, Opinion and data","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/482eae6a8521cf09396402a7e955effc","name":"Joshua Stein","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/09661283414c6a1a39b5867f8375fd1a","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/389df7f699e66c778382dc9b75d0d431e05c3bcf365a0418b8e7901b77e40c4b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/389df7f699e66c778382dc9b75d0d431e05c3bcf365a0418b8e7901b77e40c4b?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Joshua Stein"},"url":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/author\/joshua-stein\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533264","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90643"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=533264"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533264\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":534058,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/533264\/revisions\/534058"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/533934"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=533264"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=533264"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.constructionnews.co.uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=533264"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}