Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

UK Supreme Court in URS v BDW: no ‘voluntariness’ principle; remediation costs within duty; DPA 1972 and Contribution Act claims enabled by Building Safety Act 2022

Published on: 28 May 2025

Published by a Law360 reporter

Legal News

Article summary

The UK Supreme Court has thrown out a challenge by URS Corp Ltd, a subsidiary of infrastructure consultancy AECOM, seeking to avoid claims from BDW Trading Ltd, the business behind developer Barratt Redrow. Justice Andrew Burrows explained that the court dismissed URS Corp’s contention that the expense of remedial works to two high-rise apartment blocks fell outside its duty of care to BDW Trading because BDW chose to carry out the works. He stated there is no applicable ‘voluntariness principle’ and, in any event, BDW may not have been acting of its own free will, at all, as it was addressing the risk of injury or death to occupants of the towers. ‘It is strongly arguable that three aspects of the assumed facts show BDW was not, in a real sense, acting voluntarily when paying for the repairs to be undertaken’, said Burrows J. The dispute forms part of a stream of claims that have reached courts in England following the 2017 fire at the Grenfell Tower block in west London. The blaze resulted in the deaths of 72 people in west London, overall...

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