Jurisdiction(s):
United Kingdom

Scottish Court of Session on prescription: s6(4) PL(S)A 1973 strictly applied; no induced error or duty to warn; atrium cladding defects claim prescribed from practical completion

Published on: 28 July 2025

Published by a LexisNexis Construction expert

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Article summary

Greater Glasgow Health Board v Multiplex [2025] CSOH 56

What are the practical implications of this case?

This ruling prominently underscores how the PL(S)A 1973 operates to prevent an affected party from recovering damages for defective works. It also stresses that those affected must promptly pinpoint the earliest date on which loss arose from a relevant contractual breach, so that proceedings are commenced within the prescribed period, namely where:

mere ignorance of the contractual breach by the affected party is insufficient
only unequivocal proof of positive acts by the party responsible for the defects, which induced the affected party not to bring a claim, will prolong the prescribed period
any interruption of the prescriptive period excludes any time after the affected party could, with reasonable diligence, have identified the defects

What was the background?

In 2009, the parties entered into an NEC3 contract for the design and construction of the new Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Glasgow. Practical completion was reached on 26 January 2015...

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