Builder Multiplex has won its legal dispute to question staff of Wembley Stadium’s architects, Foster & Partners and HOK Sport.
Multiplex, now known as Brookfield Multiplex after it was taken over by the Canadian property developer and fund manager in July 2007, wants to question them as part of a “full and systematic review” of the architects’ work on the £757m building contract.
In December 2008, Multiplex issued a 600-page claim against engineer Mott MacDonald, demanding £253m in damages for shortcomings in the steelwork design, which it alleges resulted in 11,000 changes to the drawings and the overrunning of the project.
The builder issued a further claim against the architects demanding access to their staff so that it could identify the causes of crucial design changes, which Mott blamed on the architects.
Both Foster & Partners and HOK Sport resisted the demand.
Allowing application, Coulson J held that under the terms of their contracts with Multiplex, the architects were obliged to provide access to their personnel.
However, he stated that Multiplex would have to accept that: (i) not all personnel will be available; (ii) personnel could not be expected to have a full recall of the relevant facts; (iii) its questions would need to be specific and supplied in advance; and (iv) the process should not last more than six months.
Brookfield Construction (UK) Ltd v Foster & Partners Ltd and another Technology and
Roger Stewart QC (instructed by Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer) appeared for the claimant; David Sears QC (instructed by Reed Smith and Simmons & Simmons) appeared for the defendants.
