Aldersgate Estates Ltd v Ham Construction Ltd and another [2013] EWHC 104 (TCC)
Technology and Construction Court, Akenhead J, 31 January 2013
The variety of preliminary issues is infinite and the timing of any application to the court for an order that preliminary issues be determined may vary from the institution of proceedings to the commencement of a trial; accordingly, there is no exhaustive list of factors for the court to consider before ordering a trial of preliminary issues and each case will turn on its own facts.
John Denis-Smith (instructed by Walker Morris) for the claimant. Naomi Stafford of Pinsent Mason LLP for the first defendant. Joanna Smith QC (instructed by Plexus Law) for the second defendant.
The claimant was a property development company. It redeveloped a property in Bradford between about 2004 and 2008. It retained the second defendant as consulting engineers to provide engineering design services and the first defendant as its contractor. Part of the work involved the retention of an existing facade with most of the works behind the facade being new.
