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to supervise the works. Beltecs obligation was limited to providing the claimants with the structural designs
with reasonable care and skill.
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Competent engineers should be entitled to expect that builders would understand
and act upon the
construction method indicated in the drawings.
The court explained that when and to what extent the duty will apply will depend on all the circumstances,
but it will often arise when there is an obvious and significant danger either to life and limb or to property.
In addition, the obligation can arise when a careful professional ought to have known of such danger, having regard
to all the facts and circumstances.
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The court will be unlikely to conclude that a duty to warn arises in situations where, at the time that the professional
inspects the work, there is a possibility that the contractor in question may in future not do the works properly. Here,
Beltec did not owe the claimant a duty to warn. It was AIMS, and not the claimants, who had retained Beltec to visit
the site to see what AIMS had done in relation to the initial pin. Beltec advised that the pin should be redone and
resent AIMS the drawings; however, there was no danger at this stage.
The court held that, while generally it is the responsibility of the engineer or architect to design the permanent
works and the contractors responsibility to construct the temporary works required to build the permanent works, it
will always be necessary to consider what services the professional is engaged to provide.
Here, it was noted that Beltecs design provided a precise sequence of work which, if followed, would have resulted
in the basement being created without any significant damage to the structure above. The conclusion was that
nothing in Beltecs design should have prevented AIMS from working in a reasonably safe way.
Sarah Strange is a senior associate in the construction and engineering team at international law firm
Taylor Wessing
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