Crest Nicholson Regeneration Limited & Ors v Ardmore Construction Limited (in Administration) & Ors [2026] EWHC 789 (TCC)

Crest applied for building liability orders under sections 130 and 131 of the Building Safety Act 2022 within proceedings alleging that the contractor, Ardmore Construction, now in administration, was liable for extensive fire safety defects. The orders would attach that liability to associated companies so that they answered for the sums the insolvent contractor owed.

Mr Justice Constable applied the statutory just and equitable test, weighing the factors relevant to whether the associated companies should bear the liability. He concluded that it was just and equitable that each of the building liability order defendants be jointly and severally liable for the sums owed by the insolvent contractor under an adjudicator's decision.

The case is a leading application of the building liability order jurisdiction created by the Building Safety Act 2022, showing how a developer left exposed by a contractor's insolvency can reach solvent companies in the same group to meet fire safety liabilities. The consequential questions of stay, time to pay, interest and costs were decided in a later judgment.

Mr Justice Constable concluded that "it is just and equitable that each of the BLO Defendants is jointly and severally liable for the sums owed by ACL".