Blair & Anor v AWG Residential Ltd & Ors

Citation: NIQB 68

Nature of case:
Following the settlement of the original claim by the Blairs and others, AWG Residential and Rossorry Developments Limited (“RDL”) pursued various claims on behalf of several parties against one of the named defendants, Taylor & Boyd (“the defendants”) a firm of consulting engineers on a residential development at Rossorry Quay.  That development was owned by RDL, and had been developed by AWG, with AWG also being part-owner of RDL.  Following the failure of the foundations, which produced significant subsidence, many of the residential units on the site became uninhabitable and substantial portions of the site had to be demolished.

The claims in this case included AWG ‘s claim against the defendants for breach of the Consultancy Agreement, RDL’s claim for breach of its Collateral Warranty, the alleged breach by the defendants of the duties owned under the Defective Premises (Northern Ireland) Order 1975 to the Blairs, RDL and AWG, breach of the common law duty of care owed by these defendants to the Blairs, RDL and AWG and claims for contribution by these defendants from RDL, AWG, and two other parties in accordance with the provisions of the Civil Liability (Contribution) 1978.

It was not disputed that the subsidence had been caused by the use of an inappropriate Load Transfer Platform as part of the foundations; the central issue was whether the defendants had failed to meet the requisite standard of care.  On the facts, Coghlin J found that both the defendants and Tensar International Limited had breached their respective duties of care, and that those breaches had materially contributed to the damage in question.  Liability was apportioned 35% / 65% between the defendants and Tensar respectively.

Counsel

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