ARCHITECT HELD TO OWE DUTY OF CARE TO SUBSEQUENT OCCUPIER

Baxall Securities Ltd v Sheard Walshaw Partnership (a firm) [2001] BLR 36

In Baxall Securities Ltd v Sheard Walshaw Partnership (a firm) [2001] BLR 36 the defendant architects acted as both designers and certifiers of a project to construct a building. Judge Bowsher QC held that the defendants owed a duty of care in tort to subsequent owners of the building. The duty thus recognised was limited in a number of respects. In the first place, the claim was one for physical damage to property other than the building itself; it was not a claim for economic loss (the latter claim would, in all likelihood, have failed). Secondly the duty was confined to latent defects in the buildings in respect of which there was no reasonable possibility of inspection. Thirdly, when considering whether or not there had been a reasonable possibility of inspection, Judge Bowsher stated that it was relevant to have regard to the role of the professional advisers employed by the claimants.