Interim charging orders have been issued against the sites of billionaire Simon Halabi’s proposed £300m luxury hotel development in Piccadilly, London W1, and the
Coulson J made the orders on 14 January after he ordered Halabi’s three Jersey-based vehicles to pay £871,900 in disputed fees and interest to architect Fitzroy Robinson.
The judge ordered the payments following his decision in July that the architect, now known as Aukett Fitzroy Robinson, was entitled to payment even though it had made fraudulent misrepresentations concerning the departure from the firm of star architect Jeremy Blake, who was to be responsible for the scheme.
Ruling on legal costs, Coulson J said that the architect’s estimated £600,000 costs bill to be paid by the vehicles had to be reduced by 25% to reflect his finding of fraudulent misrepresentation.
An interim payment of £250,000 on account of costs was ordered to be paid pending a detailed assessment.
The judge also gave the architect until 5 February to apply to the court to join Halabi as a party to the proceedings for the purposes of the costs payment.
The dispute began in April 2008, when
One month later, two Jersey-based vehicles owned by Halabi family trusts – Good Start and Anglo Swiss Holdings – were also sued for fees amounting to approximately £1m plus VAT in respect of the Piccadilly project, which is a redevelopment of the building once occupied by the Naval & Military Club.
The club, widely known as the In & Out, vacated the premises 10 years ago.
