A German company has been found liable for defective cladding installed by its defunct UK subsidiary

On 22^nd June, the High Court granted a Building Liability Order (BLO) to contractor Mulalley requiring Sto Germany to pay around £1.8million over defective cladding used at Parkside Court in Chelmsford.  This building is owned by Delta Housing, Chelmer Housing Partnership (CHP) at the time of the works.  The judge found that the culpability of Sto, the subcontractor that supplied and installed the cladding, went beyond design, citing an inherently unsafe proprietary system and misleading claims about fire performance.   While Sto UK had gone into voluntary administration, the BLO enabled Mulalley, which had earlier settled a claim from CHP, to reclaim its costs from Sto Germany, which was its parent company and sole shareholder.