Ian and Richard Livingstone’s London & Regional (L&R) has won the first round of a legal dispute with the Ministry of Defence (Mod) converning offices in central London.
Coulson J held, as a preliminary issue in the dispute, that three defences submitted by the MoD did not prevent the developer from pursuing its claim.
The dispute centres around changes made to the 169,995 sq ft office block at
L&R alleges that the MoD requested changes to the planned refurbishment work that the developer was undertaking under a long lease granted by the Crown Estate, but now refuses to acknowledge that the changes were variations to the contract works.
Issues arose as to whether: (i) a certificate from L&R’s agent in respect of the variations was a “condition precedent” to the MoD being liable for the variations; and (ii) a settlement agreement between L&R and its building contractor, Shepherd Construction, provided the MoD with a defence to the claim.
On the first issue, Coulson J ruled that the agreement for lease concluded between the parties did not provide for a certification mechanism and accordingly a certificate could not be a condition precedent to liability.
On the second issue, the judge held that the settlement agreement was a “sensible and commercially appropriate method by which the claimant and Shepherd settled their differences” and did not release the MoD from the claims made by L&R.
Paul Darling QC (instructed by Wragge & Co LLP, of
