Flat owners at One Hyde Park in Knightsbridge now face a ten-year refurbishment programme to fix leaking pipework in the building.

The luxury scheme was completed in 2011 by Laing O’Rourke Construction South.

The One Hyde Park (OHP) freeholders launched a legal claim against the contractor in 2021 following years of unsuccessful talks over building defects which were first discovered in 2014.

Laing O’Rourke Construction South went into voluntary liquidation in February 2025 and the hearing and subsequent ruling was issued without their defence.

Mrs Justice Jefford agreed with OHP barrister Andrew Rigney’s description that Laing O’Rourke’s decision to walk away from the trial was “commercially amoral.”

The judgement added: “There was no evidence before the Court of any financial difficulty of Laing O’Rourke plc or the group as a whole. Mr Rigney submitted that the only credible reason for the group withdrawing support from the defendant was that it had formed the view that OHP was likely to succeed and obtain a substantial award of damages and that Laing O’Rourke plc, in my words not his, had decided to pull the plug on the defendant rather than honour its contractual obligations.”