This is the second in a series of podcasts coming this year, all recorded to celebrate 150 years of the Technology and Construction Court (TCC). In each episode, Keating barristers will chose one leading case from the TCC and review how it has faired over the years, including discussion of subsequent cases that have focused on it.
In this episode Calum Lamont KC and Paul Buckingham KC discuss the scope of ‘fitness for purpose’ obligations in construction contracts, starting with arguably the most important case on this matter in recent times, MT Højgaard A/S v E.ON Climate & Renewables UK Robin Rigg East Limited and another [2017]. This dispute concerned defects in the Robin Rigg wind farm in the Solway Firth, one of the first offshore wind farms to be developed around the UK, and proceeded from the TCC all the way up to the Supreme Court. Calum and Paul discuss how the decision has impacted upon the approach of the TCC in subsequent cases and the apparent willingness of the courts to hold the parties to their contractual obligations, even where those obligations are absolute in nature without negligence or lack of skill and care on the part of the contractor.
