Birse Construction Ltd v Eastern Telegraph Company Ltd, Court of Appeal - Technology and Construction Court, November 05, 2004, [2004] EWHC 2512 (TCC)
Linked as:
Extract
Birse Construction Ltd v Eastern Telegraph Company Ltd, Court of Appeal - Technology and Construction Court, November 05, 2004, [2004] EWHC 2512 (TCC)
Neutral Citation Number: [2004] EWHC 2512 (TCC)
Case No: HT-00-88IN THE HIGH COURT OF JUSTICE QUEEN'S BENCH DIVISIONTECHNOLOGY AND CONSTRUCTION COURT5 November 2004Before:His Honour Judge Humphrey LLoyd QC- - - - - - - - - - - - - B E T W E E NBIRSE CONSTRUCTION LIMITEDThird Part 20 Claimant and Fifth Part 20 Claimant-and-EASTERN TELEGRAPH COMPANY LIMITEDThird Part 20 Defendant and Fourth Part 20 Claimant- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Nerys Jefford appeared for Eastern Telegraph Company Limited, instructed by Speechly Bircham.Rosemary Jackson appeared for Birse Construction Limited, instructed by Osborne Clarke.- - - - - - - - - - - - - JUDGMENTIntroduction This action concerns a residential training college in Coventry which was built for Eastern Telegraph Company Ltd. (ET) by Birse Construction Ltd. (Birse or BCL), to the design of the well-known architects, MacCormac Jamieson Prichard (MJP). It is a case about defects. ET is a wholly owned subsidiary of Cable and Wireless plc. ET had decided to move its training college from Porthcurno in Cornwall to somewhere that was more accessible to students from this country and many other countries where Cable and Wireless operates. The site was bought from Coventry City Council in November 1990. It is now no longer required by Cable & Wireless and ET is trying to sell it. MJP's brief was to provide a high quality building of unique design. The college was not a conventional college. The building had to house a large amount of teaching accommodation, ranging from small rooms for classes in management to large, highly technical laboratories and workshops. The teaching buildings are arranged in a series of parallel strips to the south of the site with the residential accommodation in a long row to the north of the site. To the east of the site is a separate leisure centre which contained recreational facilities. The residences and the teaching blocks are united by an oval courtyard overlooked by the college dining room and the common rooms. A particular feature of the buildings was the wave roofs that were constructed over the teaching facilities. There were six sections of overlapping roofs. This was the first time that roofs of this profile and construction had been built in the United Kingdom. MJP gained architectural awards for the college. It thus comprises a number of structures, including: two teaching blocks with lecture and training rooms and a library; an administration building and restaurant; two three storey residential buildings where up to 160 students lived; a leisure centre with ancillary buildings; and four outbuildings. Miss Rosemary Jackson, for Birse, described the college in her submissions as ``an arresting development with clean lines, materials selected for their particular aesthetic qualities, and eye-catching details such as the wave-form roofs on the teaching wings''. Birse entered into a contract with ET. It was made under seal by deed dated 6 February 1992 and incorporated the JCT Standard Form of Building Contract 1980 edition with Quantities together with the Contractor's Designed Portion Supplement. MJP were the Architect under the contract and Northcroft Neighbour & Nicholson (Northcrofts or NNN, now NNN Ltd) were the Quantity Surveyor. Birse's obligations under the contract were secured by a Bond (also of 6 February 1992) given by the New Hampshire Insurance Company in favour of ET for an amount up to £1,433,065.63. The college was built between about October 1991 and the end of 1993. On 22 December 1993 MJP issued a certificate recording that practical completion had been achieved on 17 December 1993. However as a consequence of delays in construction (some of which resulted in extensions of time up to 16 April 1993) from 4 August 1993 MJP began to issue the first of many partial possession certificates so as to enable ET to take possession prior to practical completion of the whole in order that it could start fitting out using its contractors and could start teaching on 6 September 1993. (Students arrived a few days before on 4 September.) This was probably a little earlier than was advisable, given the number of defects that had to be attended to subsequently. However it was in the interests of both parties that ET should move in. Some seven certificates were issued, three after 4 September 1993. I ought here to record, first, that I did not get the impression that the delays in completion affected the standards of work, as sometimes is the case, and, secondly, although the trial necessarily focussed on the quality of workmanship, the documents and evidence did not establish that the overall performance of Birse was below average, although, as will appear, there were too many defects. The contemporary criticisms were not out of the ordinary. Birse's management might well have been better but it was not particularly bad. Miss Jackson had ...See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
