The High Court in London has ordered building contractor Breyer Group to pay a company owned by Lewisham Council just over £2.7m to compensate for around 3,000 faulty fire doors installed by the contractor.
The ruling shines a light on the activity of London’s arbitration courts.
Arbitration is a method of legally enforced private dispute resolution. The decisions of most arbitration judges are never made public. However, in this case, Breyer chose to challenge the ruling of the arbitrator in the High Court, which led to a public judgment in which a High Court judge backed the arbitrator’s decision.
According to the High Court ruling, which took place in April but has only just been made available, Lewisham had hired Breyer to carry out works and improvements on its housing stock, including replacing 7,000 door sets to flats and buildings that needed to be fireproof and fire-resistant.
According to the ruling, tests found that doors supplied to Breyer by one company did not meet the fire safety requirements. In total, 2,903 doors needed to be changed.
This led to Lewisham’s decision in April 2019 to take the dispute to arbitration under the terms of its contract with Breyer.
By the time the arbitration took place, Lewisham said it was seeking £7.6m from Breyer, which the arbitrator reduced to £2.7m plus VAT when he gave judgment in January.
According to the High Court ruling, Breyer then challenged the decision in the High Court, arguing that the arbitrator was acting outside of his jurisdiction.
However, High Court judge Mr Justice Waksman disagreed and awarded summary judgment against the company.
Lewisham Homes Ltd v Breyer Group plc
Technology and Construction Court (Waksman J) 14 April 2021
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