A contractor who took a design firm to court has lost the case after a judge ruled construction errors were responsible for concrete deterioration problems.
MJS Projects (March) Ltd took designers RPS Consulting Services Ltd to Leeds’ Technology and Construction Court for alleged negligence and breach of contract after concrete on its development deteriorated just four months after completion.
The case focused on whether the deterioration and damage was caused by RPS’s design, by the manner in which the drains were constructed or both.
It was alleged that concrete surrounding drains in the design of a container park near Felixstowe Port was suffering from deterioration and damage four months after completion. MJS Projects was constructing the container park under a JCT design-and-build contract.
It had subcontracted the design of the park to RPS Consulting Services and the construction to MJS Construction. No claim was brought by MJS Projects against MJS Construction.
The court heard MJS Construction and MJS Projects share an insurance policy as part of an umbrella agreement and that drains were required in various areas of the container yard. As a result three Gatic slot drains were included as part of the design.
The work was completed in August 2017, but the court heard that by December 2017 concrete surrounding the slot drains was suffering from deterioration and damage. The court was told that RPS’s final design specified 32mm dowels should be used but instead 25mm dowels were used.
Judge Kelly dismissed MJS Project’s claim and ruled :“In my judgement, all of the damage identified by December 2017 was caused by construction errors,.
“Dowels of the wrong size were installed. The dowels were installed at the wrong depth in the concrete and at the wrong angle. Some dowels were bent. Some dowels were missing. The experts agreed that those were all detrimental changes.”
The judge found that reinforcement mesh was not installed in accordance with the design stating: “Where it was missing from the base of the Gatic slot drains concrete surround, that was a detrimental change.
“In some areas, side reinforcement mesh was added to the Gatic slot drains concrete surround, which was a beneficial change. Despite that, damage still occurred in those areas where side mesh had been installed.
“It must therefore have been caused by workmanship issues. In short, I do not find that the defendant’s design was negligent or in breach of contract.”
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