The Week That Was - 14 February 2025

Welcome to the week that was, a round-up of key events in the construction sector over the last seven days.

Recovering Costs of Costs Management Hearings – GS Woodland Court Gp 1 and another company v RGCM Ltd and other companies [2025] EWHC 285 (TTC)

A recent decision of Mr Justice Constable awarded 4 defendants their costs of attending a costs management hearing, after the claimants submitted what he found to be an unreasonable and disproportionate costs budget. In his judgment, Mr Justice Constable found that the claimants had "lost" the hearing on the basis that, even though they beat the offers made by the defendants, their costs were nevertheless reduced to £4.212 million against a claimed budget of £8.74 million.   The judge's reasons include that the "court should take a more proactive view in considering the approach of parties in their costs management and the extent to which they have approached the matter has led to a hearing, or has increased the likelihood of a hearing, which causes the parties to incur costs, and of course, uses judicial resources". 

You can read more here.

Claimant able to protectively issue to pass down liability with minimal version of claim

In a case that will be of interest to any construction firm whose business includes subcontracting out work, Mrs Justice Jefford's judgment in Willmott Dixon Holdings Ltd v Karakusevic Carson Architects LLP and others [2024] EWHC 3449 (TCC) has just been published. Willmott Dixon were the lead contractor in a project for the employer, Hackney LBC, and subcontracted work to, among others, Karakusevic Carson. After a claim was intimated against them in outline by the employer, but before full investigations had concluded, Willmott Dixon issued proceedings against their subcontractors one day before a limitation period expired. Because they had yet to receive full details of the claim from the employer, the particulars of claim were sparse, consisting of five short paragraphs. Karakusevic Carson applied to strike out the claim as an abuse of process.

The court rejected this argument. While, following Nomura International plc v Granada Group Ltd [2007] EWHC 642, it would be abusive to issue before the claimant knew whether it had a known basis for issuing the claim merely to protect its position on limitation, it was not so where the claimant was able to do the 'minimum necessary to set out its claim … in the most rudimentary way'. That hurdle had been passed on these facts.

You can read the judgment here.

BDP raises alarm over visa pay requirements

International architecture practice BDP has led calls for the Government to revisit the minimum threshold for architects to qualify for a skilled worker visa, currently set at £45,900 per annum (intended to represent the 'going rate' for the work of architects). They did so in a letter sent to Seema Malhotra, Minister for Migration and Citizenship with the Home Office, and which was co-signed by 17 leading industry figures, including partners at Cartwright Pickard, Hawkins\Brown and HTA.

The letter argues that increases to the threshold from £26,200 over the last two years have scuppered aspirations of international students to live and work in the UK in the fields in which they had studied.

According to Glassdoor, BDP's graduate salary is in the region of £28,000.

You can read more here.

Non-attendance at trial not to result in default judgment against defendant

One would hope that non-attendance by a defendant would be an extremely unusual situation, only to occur in unusual circumstances. However, this was exactly the case in AMNS Middle East FZE v LIQS Pte Ltd [2025] EWHC 150 (Comm), which O'Sullivan KC, sitting as a Deputy High Court Judge, described as "strange… in a number of respects". Having struck out the defence (and counterclaim), the suggestion was raised that this ought to result in default judgment against the defendant.

This wasn't accepted. The basic requirement for the claimant to prove its case on the balance of probabilities remained – although the duty of fair presentation incumbent upon the claimant in the circumstances did not extend to a duty to put forward the defendant's case. Under these circumstances, it is perhaps unsurprising that judgment in the sum of c. US$53m was entered for the claimant.

You can find the judgment here.

Land Registry starts project to ensure easier data sharing

The Government has announced plans to digitise information and ensure easier data sharing in a bid to slash the amount of time it takes to buy or sell homes.  The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has announced its ambition to create a “fully digitalised home buying and selling process”.

It is the latest policy ministers hope will help speed up housing development towards their target of 1.5 million new homes by 2029.  MHCLG announced a 12-week project, backed by the Land Registry, to design and implement data rules for the property sector so information can be more easily shared between conveyancers, lenders and other parties involved in a transaction.  The work will be carried out with the Digital Property Market Steering Group, a collection of sector and government experts, set up by the previous Government, which includes the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and mortgage lenders’ body, UK Finance.

You can read more here.

HSE acknowledges 'teething troubles' with building regulation

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has acknowledged that there are "teething troubles" with its regulation of building work. When the Building Safety Regulator (BSR) took over building control of higher-risk projects last year, it took around 30 weeks for it to consider applications to approve a project's progression to construction.  HSE's chief executive, Sarah Albon, speaking before a Parliamentary Committee, said that is now down to an average of 16 weeks. 

Construction News reported last month that the BSR had approved 2 out of 130 higher-risk building schemes submitted. Ms Albon commented that "a very large proportion of the cases that come in front of us are still failing to demonstrate that they meet the new safety standards that are required" and that the HSE is being impacted by having "a ratio of experienced to inexperienced inspectors which is skewed much more than we are comfortable with towards newly-qualified and inexperienced".

You can read more here.

Vinci to kick off £350m Stockport regeneration 

Vinci has been selected to deliver the first phase of a £350m mixed-use neighbourhood in Stockport.  Work will commence in early 2026 by Vinci demolishing the Stagecoach depot currently on the site. Stockport 8 is a major regeneration project being delivered by Morgan Sindall subsidiary, Muse, and backed by Legal & General, Homes England and Stockport Mayoral Development Corporation.  As part of the first phase, Vinci will build 435 homes and 80 square metres of commercial space. The project team includes architect ShedKM, landscape architect Planit, project manager Walker Sime, structural and civil engineers Tace (MEP) and Renaissance, and highways consultant Arup.

You can read more here.

Disclaimer: The information in this publication is for guidance purposes only and does not constitute legal advice.  We attempt to ensure that the content is current as at the date of publication, but we do not guarantee that it remains up to date.  You should seek legal or other professional advice before acting or relying on any of the content.