Tribunal orders firms to pay £18m for cladding works at former Olympic Village
The First-Tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) has ordered two property firms to pay nearly £18m for post-Grenfell works on blocks in the former Olympic Village in east London.
Landlord Triathlon Homes brought the case against Stratford Village Development Partnership (SVDP) and Get Living.
Its case under the Building Safety Act 2022 concerned five blocks built for the London 2012 Olympic Games but which now comprise a residential estate named East Village of 2,818 homes - of which 1,379 are affordable - most located in 66 blocks of between eight and 12 storeys.
Those concerned in this case were Meller House, Chroma Mansions, Seasons House, Patina Mansions and Kaleidoscope House.
Triathlon owns all the social and affordable housing, while Get Living owns all the private rented housing at East Village, and now owns the original developer SVDP.
Repair and maintenance of the structure and common parts of the East Village is the responsibility of East Village Management Ltd (EVML), which is owned jointly by Get Living and Triathlon.
Following the Grenfell Tower fire EVML identified materials used in the East Village and established the same highly combustible aluminium composite material (ACM) employed in cladding at Grenfell had been used at some plots.
The tribunal said serious fire safety defects were also discovered relating both to the design and the construction of non-ACM cladding systems adopted for the external facades.
These included combustible insulation and breather membranes in the cladding, inadequate firestopping, combustible timber decking in external balconies, and the absence or defective installation of cavity barriers and firestopping within the external wall systems.
Remediation began in April 2023 and is due for completion by August 2025, funded by grants to EVML from the Government’s Building Safety Fund. The total cost of the work exceeds £24.5m.
In December 2022 Triathlon made five applications to the First-tier Tribunal Property Chamber for remediation contribution orders under section 124 of the 2022 Act.
These would require SVDP and Get Living to reimburse £16.03m incurred by EVML in remedying the defects, representing Triathlon’s share of the total remediation costs.
It also sought £1.06m already incurred by Triathlon through services charges paid to EVML for interim fire safety measures and investigative and preparatory works, £153,538 for service charges previously demanded by EVML, and £613,899 for costs not yet in service charge demands.
Mr Justice Edwin Johnson, chamber president, and Martin Rodger KC, deputy chamber president, noted in their judgment the principal factor emphasised by Triathlon in support of it being just and equitable to make an order against SVDP “was the fact that it was the developer of each of the blocks, and was therefore ultimately responsible for the presence of the relevant defects”.
Triathlon argued orders should be made against Get Living for the same reasons and to guarantee funding for the major works, since SVDP relied on its owner Get Living for financial support.
The two judges rejected the view that they should not make orders because Triathlon had other legal remedies at its disposal.
They said: “The ability to make a claim for a remediation contribution order under section 124 is a new and independent remedy, which is essentially non-fault based.
“The remedy has been created by Parliament as an alternative to other fault-based claims which a party may be entitled to make in relation to relevant defects. It seems clear to us that Parliament did not intend that the availability of other claims or potential claims should either disqualify an applicant from making a claim for a remediation contribution order or delay the making of that claim.
“It also seems clear to us that Parliament intended that an application for a remediation contribution order should provide a route to securing funding for remediation works without the applicant having to become involved in, or to wait upon the outcome of other claims arising out of the relevant defects, which might involve complex, multi-handed, expensive and lengthy litigation.”
They decided SVDP and Get Living should pay £16,031,244.53 to EVML, for the forecast cost of major works and professional fees, plus £767,438.79 for other remedial measures and £1,158,358.18 for additional costs to Triathlon, totalling £17,957,041.50 in all.
Mark Smulian
