(1) Sahib Foods Ltd (in liquidation) v. Paskin Kyriakides Sands (A Firm)
[2003] EWCA Civ 1832
Court of Appeal (Ward LJ, Potter LJ,
Clarke LJ)
December 2003

(1) Sahib Foods Ltd (2) Cooperative Insurance Society Ltd v. Paskin Kyriakides Sands (A Firm)
[2003] EWHC 142 TCC
HH Judge Bowsher QC
Technology & Construction Court
March 2003

At first instance, it was held that an architect was liable for use of inappropriate materials in a building, notwithstanding that an employee's negligence was the immediate cause of loss.

The claim concerned liability for the destruction of a food factory as a result of a fire. The claimant had an employee who left the heat on at maximum setting under a pan of oil when he left the building in the evening, after working a 14-hour day. The employee, who could not read English, was unable to read the safety instructions and the thermostat on the pan was broken.

It was held, in the High Court, that the defendant architects were liable for failing to guard against the potential negligence of the claimant or its employees. The architects had been warned by the manufacturers that panels used in the relevant part of the factory were combustible and that more expensive non-combustible panels should be used. This meant that they were responsible for the spread of the fire, even though the employee had been negligent in the starting of the fire. The architects were therefore wholly liable for damage caused by failing to contain the fire within the immediate cooking area in which the panels were used.
The architects' appeal on liability was dismissed. It was held, however, that Bowsher J was wrong to reach the conclusion he did with regard to contributory negligence. The owner of the food factory had suffered damage partly as a result of its own fault, through its employee, and was therefore in breach of its responsibility to take reasonable care to avoid a fire breaking out. The damages recoverable from the architects were therefore reduced by two thirds.