Mulalley & Co Limited v Sto Limited & Anor [2026] EWHC 1552 (TCC)

The claim concerned the quantification of a contractor's contribution claim against the supplier of an unsafe external cladding system, in the wake of the fire at Grenfell Tower in June 2017. The contractor, Mulalley, had installed the system and faced remediation liability; it sought contribution from the supplier, Sto, and, through a building liability order, from Sto's German parent.

Mr Justice Pepperall assessed the just and equitable share of the remediation cost that the supplier should bear. Taking the defects in the render system and the infill panels together, he fixed the contribution at 87.5 per cent. He gave judgment for Mulalley against the German parent, under the building liability order, in the sum of about 1.77 million pounds, being 87.5 per cent of the assessed loss of just over 2 million pounds.

The case shows the building liability order under the Building Safety Act 2022 being used to reach a foreign parent company for a cladding-related liability, and gives a worked example of how the court apportions responsibility between installer and supplier for an unsafe cladding system.

Mr Justice Pepperall held: "I therefore give judgment for Mulalley against Sto Germany in the sum of £1,772,312.17, being 87.5% of £2,025,499.62".