Riva Properties Ltd & Ors v Foster + Partners Ltd [2017] EWHC 2574 (TCC) (18 October 2017)
Citation:Riva Properties Ltd & Ors v Foster + Partners Ltd [2017] EWHC 2574 (TCC) (18 October 2017)
Rule of thumb: What happens if you ask an architect to design a property to be built for a certain amount of money, and it costs way over budget? This is an act of negligence – architects should provide accurate cost estimates or this is negligence – this can move into the region of millions of pounds.
Judgment:
Architects must provide a design that is able to be built for the budget they are provided with. Any adjustments in specification that can be made with it to make it cost more or less to build – and increase or decrease the class of the finish – must also be accurate. The facts of this case were that 3.6 million pounds was spent on architects’ fees to build a 5 star hotel for around 100 million. The hotel designed was only able to be built for £195 million, and 170 million at least. The adjustments to build for 100 million were also not accurate, ‘The First Claimant contracted with Fosters in 2007 to have a project designed that would be a 500 bed 5* hotel on the site at Bath Road that could be built for £100 million. In breach of its duties, Fosters failed to do that, producing a design that would cost £195 million (prior to some value engineering that brought it down to nearer £170 million … in light of the above, what sums is each of the Claimant’s entitled to recover? £3.6 million’, Fraser J
Warning: This is not professional legal advice. This is not professional legal education advice. Please obtain professional guidance before embarking on any legal course of action. This is just an interpretation of a Judgment by persons of legal insight & varying levels of legal specialism, experience & expertise. Please read the Judgment yourself and form your own interpretation of it with professional assistance.