BDW TRADING LTD v URS CORPORATION LTD AND ANOTHER

[2021] EWHC 2796 (TCC), Technology and Construction Court, Fraser J, 22 October 2021

Alleged structural defects in high-rise buildings – Scope of duty of care owed by designer – Whether duty of care extended to reputational damage – Date on which cause of action accrued

The case concerned the trial of a number of preliminary issues on the basis of assumed facts. These facts were that the defendant provided structural design services to the claimant in connection with a number of developments. The claimant had a proprietary interest in the developments at the time of construction and the defendant owed to the claimant a common law duty of care in tort which was concurrent with the obligations assumed by the defendant under its contract with the claimant. It was also assumed that there were a number of defects in the development, some of which presented a risk to health and safety (in the sense that they presented a danger to life and limb). At the time at which the defects in the developments became apparent, the claimant no longer had a proprietary interest in the developments and the claimant was not under a legal obligation to rectify the defects (on the claimant’s case this was because the claims against it were time-barred). It was also assumed that there was a risk to the claimant’s reputation to the extent that the defects which represented a health and safety risk were not rectified and, this being the case, it was further assumed that the claimant would, to the extent that it had not already done so, incur cost in carrying out repairs in respect of the defects which created a risk to health and safety (but not in respect of other defects).