Cases - Department of National Heritage v Steensen Varming Mulcahy

Record details

Name
Department of National Heritage v Steensen Varming Mulcahy
Date
(1998)
Citation
60 Con LR 33 QBD
Keywords
Contract administration
Summary

A claim for professional negligence against mechanical and electrical engineers arising out of work on the British Library in London. Laing Management Ltd ('LM'), the management contractors for the project, were joined as third parties.

The defendant engineers claimed that the defects were caused by bad workmanship by others and/or bad supervision and lack of coordination by LM. The judge held that the Plaintiffs failed to establish that the damage to the cabling was caused by negligence on the defendant's part. LM had responsibility for the inspection of the electrical and mechanical work during construction and installation.

The judge also considered the extent of SVM's liability for supervision and workmanship by the other contractors. Held: SVM's duty was to make such site visits as were reasonably likely to be required to ensure that the site was adequately supervised so that the electrical works would be properly executed in accordance with good engineering practice.

He held that SVM was under an obligation to do what it reasonably could to see that LM discharged its obligations as regards M&E services: in practice, if advice and admonition was insufficient, all that SVM could do was voice any concerns to the supervising officer. SVM's duty did not extend to preventing the contractor from doing bad work: that could only be done by such close supervision as would be expected from a foreman.

SVM's duties were limited to taking steps which would discourage bad work and if possible discover it after it had been done.