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Mr. Justice Hamilton apportioned the damages as to
one third against the architect and two thirds against
the builder and Precast Ltd. He gave judgment for
£16,526 against the architect and for £33,053 against
the other defendants. He also granted a stay of
execution.
Mr. Justice Hamilton, in his judgment, said the
evidence established to the satisfaction of the court
that Mr. Lynch, in 1966, purchased the site of the old
Fever Hospital, at Midleton, with the intention of
building a guest house. It was the intention of Mr.
Lynch to apply for a grant from Bord Failte Eireann.
In accordance with their usual practices Bord Failte
appointed Mr. Robert Creedon as their consultant
architect for the purpose of considering the project
and plans and advising thereon.
In view of the defence made by the architect, the
judge said it was necessary that Court should declare
its finding of fact that Mr. Credon acted at all times
as the consultant architect for Bord Failte and that
any suggestions -made by him were made for the
purpose of informing Mr. Lynch and Mr. Beale as to
what would be required by Bord Failte to enable Mr.
Lynch to qualify for a grant. The plaintiff and Mr.
Beale were free to reject these suggestions. At no time
was Mr. Beale relieved of his obligations as the
plaintiff's architect and at no time was he controlled
by, and subject to, the directions of the consultant
architect to Bord Failte.
The Court had no doubt that it was the
intention of Mr. Lynch that the hotel would
be constructed in such a way that if necessary a second
storey could be added and that Mr. Beale so provided
in his main drawings. The Court was satisfied that it
was at all times the intention of Mr. Lynch, the
architect, and Mr. Murphy, that the roof of the
building would be a concrete one and that at no time
did they indicate otherwise to the managing director
of Precast Ltd., Mr. O'Driscoll, or any employer of
that firm.
Mr. Justice Hamilton said the evidence clearly
established that there were two major causes of the
structural defects in the building: foundation failure
with consequent serious settlement at the back or
north-east corner of the building; the failure of the
prestressed concrete beams at first-floor level which
were inadequate to carry the loads imposed on them.
The Court was satisfied that in July, 1969, the
building was in such a condition that remedial work
was so risky and dangerous that nobody would do it.
On the question of negligence the Judge said it was
clear from Mr. Beale's evidence that, because of the
fact the hotel was being built on a site on which had
stood for many years as a substantial building, he did
not carry out any investigation" of the sub-soil other
than a look at the excavations while they were being
dug by the contractor's workmen. Having regard to
the duty imposed by law on an architect, and to the
evidence of Mr. Kelliher and Mr. McCarthy, he con-
sidered that a reasonable architect, even in the
circumstances of the case and this site, would at the
very least, when the excavations were opened, have
carried out the usual probing to establish the nature
of the sub-soil. Mr. Beale was negligent in failing to
do so.
Having regard to his general duty to supervise the
construction of the building, it was the view of the
Court that he was under a duty to ensure that Messrs.
O'Reagan Precast Limited, whom he had recommended
to the builder, and whom he knew were going to
manufacture the beams, would have sufficient informa-
tion at their disposal to enable them to calculate the
load the beams would be required to carry.
The Court was also satisfied that Mr. O'Driscoll did
not seek any information about the nature of the roof
and relied on his interpretation of the plans submitted
to him and this led to his mistaken assumption that
the entire of the roof was to be of wood. The beams
were designed and manufactured by Messrs. O'Regan
Precast Ltd., and delivered to the site where they
were installed under the direction of Mr. Gerry
Callaghan, an employee of the company.
The work on the hotel progressed and was com-
pleted in November, 1967, and possession was handed
over to Mr. Lynch. At some stage prior to the
completion, and contrary to the wishes of Mr. Beale,
two 600-gallon water tanks were placed on the roof
of the hotel in the vicinity of the north-east corner.
It was alleged by the architect, and Precast Ltd., that
this contributed substantially to the trouble which
subsequently developed. The hotel was opened on
December 4th, 1967, and Mr. Lynch carried on busi-
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