Tribunal cuts Urban Splash BSF costs 10% for Government failures

• The First-tier Tribunal on 5 November ordered five Urban Splash entities to pay £46,500,650, jointly and severally, towards fire-safety remediation of seven Manchester buildings.
• It reduced the publicly funded costs the developer would otherwise pay by 10% for Government failures identified by the Hackitt Review and Grenfell Tower Inquiry.
• The tribunal said the reduction "is not an apportionment of causative responsibility between Government and Urban Splash."

A tribunal has ordered five Urban Splash entities to pay £46.5m towards fire-safety repairs at seven Manchester buildings, after cutting the developer's share of taxpayer-funded costs by 10% for the Government's own failures before Grenfell.

The First-tier Tribunal (Property Chamber) made the remediation contribution orders under section 124 of the Building Safety Act 2022 on 5 November, on applications by the Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government. Liberty Managing Agency Ltd contributed £6,320,750 towards one of the buildings, Chips, under a latent-defects insurance policy, the decision records.

The tribunal found £60,638,548 including VAT was reasonably incurred or would be incurred on the defects, of which £51,510,063 was funded or would be funded by the Building Safety Fund. It reduced by 10% the fund-financed costs that Urban Splash Limited, the developer, would otherwise pay. "The 10% reduction does not represent a finding that Government was responsible for 10% of the defects or remediation costs," it said.

The tribunal said it would have given the Government-failure argument "materially greater weight" had the buildings been shown to comply with the standards in force when they were built. It accepted expert evidence that aspects of the original construction of a number of the buildings did not.

The orders reach beyond the developer. Urban Splash Developments Limited, Urban Splash Group Holdings Limited, Urban Splash Work Limited and Stubbs Mill LLP are jointly and severally liable with it. Stubbs Mill LLP was set up after the buildings were completed and had no part in their construction, but its members were Urban Splash's senior leadership, the tribunal found. It refused to apportion the bill, citing the risk of a shortfall for the taxpayer given the developer's financial position.

No orders were made against two family investment companies or two entities in a regulated residential investment fund. On one fund entity, the tribunal said "influence is not control."

The respondents had argued for a deduction for betterment. The Secretary of State said authorities on betterment from contractual and insurance claims "do not map straightforwardly" onto the statutory scheme. The tribunal said it did not need to decide how far those damages principles apply to contribution orders, and rejected the deduction because no alleged betterment had been identified or valued.

Payment is due by 4pm on 3 December 2026.

Related coverage: Allianz loses bid to end Vivid cladding claim under latent defects policy; Home subsidence claims hit record 13,000 in third quarter, ABI says.

Sources

• Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government v Urban Splash Limited & Ors [2026] UKFTT 1426 (PC), decision dated 5 November 2026

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