Cases - London Congregational Union v Harriss & Harriss

Record details

Name

London Congregational Union v Harriss & Harriss

Date

[1988]

Citation

1 AII ER 15

Keywords

Contract administration

Summary

The defendant, a firm of architects, was retained by the claimant to design and oversee building works to construct a new church hall. During the course of such works, the contractor omitted to fit a damp-proof course, an omission which was not picked up on by the defendant. Final completion occurred in 1970. Between 1971 and 1975 the building flooded on several occasions as a result of defectively designed drains, and further damage was caused to the blockwork of the hall from water ingress a result of the missing damp-proof course. Proceedings were issued against the defendant in 1978. The defendant argued that the cause of action accrued at the time of erection and/or practical completion of the building, as:

1. the defective drain design was the 'damage' to the property, or
2. the property was 'doomed from the start' (see commentary on Pirelli).

The Court of Appeal held that limitation ran from the date that water damage was caused to the building and the claim was not statute-barred. The design of the drains and the missing damp-proof course were examples of defects which, although causative of the water ingress, did not constitute actionable damage in themselves. The court suggested that there may be circumstances where a defect could constitute actual physical damage to the building, but only where such defects were immediately causative of damage. Even if such damage was inevitable, this is still not sufficient to ground a cause of action. In the circumstances, the drains had been functional for almost 2 years.