Consultant engineers held not to owe a duty of care to main contractors

In Multiplex Construction Europe Ltd v Bathgate Realisations Civil Engineering Ltd and Others [2021] EWHC 590 (TCC) Fraser J held that engineering consultants did not owe a duty of care to main contractors, with whom they were not in a contractual relationship, in respect of Category 3 Design Check Certificates which they had issued to the sub-contractor and which had been passed on by the sub-contractor to the main contractor (albeit not in the same form as they had been issued by the consultants). Given the complex nature of the construction project, the existence of carefully drawn legal documents and the contractual structure which had been set up by the parties, it was held that there was no room for the imposition of a duty of care owed directly by the consultants to the main contractor. Fraser J also held that the consultants had not provided any warranties directly to the main contractor.