Architects' Duties and Fee Disputes

Instructed both by claimants and defendants, members of Chambers have appeared in a number of landmark cases relating to architects’ liability over the last 20 years, including the following:

Richard Roberts Holdings v Douglas Smith Stimson Partnership [1988] 46 BLR 50, in which the court identified measures which designers could take to protect themselves and their clients when working with state-of-the-art materials.
Wessex Area Health Authority v HLM Architects [1994] 10 Const LJ 165, on the concurrent duties in contract and tort of the architect.
West Faulkner Associates v London Borough of Newham [1995] 11 Const LJ 157, on architects’ contract administration obligations.
Tesco Stores Ltd v Norman Hiscox Partnership [1998] 56 Con LR 42, on whether architects employed by design and build contractors could owe a duty of care directly to the owners of the building in respect of defects actually observed in carrying out inspections.

In addition, Chambers has been involved in many of reported decisions on architects’ responsibilities and liability:

Munkenbeck & Marshall v The Kensington Hotel Ltd [2000] 78 Con LR 71, concerning the scope of architectural services undertaken under a non-RIBA Agreement for services.
Baxall Securities Ltd v Sheard Walshaw Partnership [2002] BLR 100, a decision of the Court of Appeal on whether an architect could be said to owe a duty of care towards subsequent owners of a building in respect of latent design defects where there had been an opportunity for intermediate inspection by the claimant’s surveyor.
Alfred McAlpine Construction Ltd v Forum Architects [2002] BLR 378, deciding that no duty of care was owed by an architects’ partnership to a design and build contractor, since the contract was with a limited company set up by the partnership.
Royal Brompton Hospital NHS Trust v Hammond [2002] 81 Con LR 2, heard in the House of Lords, which was an appeal by an architect against the striking out of contribution proceedings against a contractor, following allegations of negligent granting of extensions of time.
Allied Carpets Group v Stephen Grant MacFarlane [2002] BLR 433 deciding that mere physical delivery of a collateral warranty was insufficient to constitute assignment, so that the claimant had no right of action against the architect who had given the warranty.
HOK Sport Ltd v Aintree Racecourse Co. Ltd [2003] BLR 155 applying the negligent valuation case South Australia Asset Management v York Montague to the issue of foreseeability of loss following negligent design of a racecourse stand.
Mersey Docks Property Holdings v Birse Construction [2005] 99 Con LR 122 - £15 million claims arose, following a fire at a cold storage and distribution centre, against architects and other defendants. Members of Keating Chambers represented three of the five defendants, including the architects.
Burford NW3 v Brian Warwicker Partnership [2006] 103 Con LR 112 concerning the apportionment of responsibility between architects and engineers for design defects in a leisure/retail centre which led to the ingress of serious air-currents.

As well as being actively involved in cases, our members are much in demand to write and speak on professional liability topics. Contributions to the Architects Legal Handbook (Butterworths) and to the Lloyds of London Press title ‘Professional Negligence’ (section on Architects, Engineers and Quantity Surveyors) are typical, and a case-book on contract administration is due out in late 2006. Recent lectures to specialist construction departments of major solicitors’ firms include ‘Contribution claims in professional negligence cases’, ‘Design liability’, ‘Project team negligence’ and the ‘British Property Federation Consultants Agreement 2005’.

Further Information
For further information on how our members can assist you, please contact the Senior Clerks, John Munton and Nick Child, in the first instance, on +44(0)20 7544 2600. They and their teams of Clerks will be pleased to advise you on the member of Keating Chambers appropriate to your requirements.