The homeowners of the sector’s second-largest film set, Shepperton Studios Restricted (SSL), and contractor Laing O’Rourke have filed court cases in opposition to every different over a disputed bill.
SSL is the landlord of Surrey-based, 139,354 sq. metre Shepperton Studios, which boasts Amazon MGM Studios and Netflix as main tenants.
On 12 December, SSL logged a declare with the Prime Court docket over the validity of fee and pay-less notices that SSL had issued to Laing O’Rourke.
If the court docket dominated in SSL’s favour, it will successfully wipe out a £5.6m declare through the contractor.
3 weeks ahead of SSL filed its declare, Laing O’Rourke took the disputed fee to adjudication.
The adjudicator’s determination has no longer been made public, however Laing O’Rourke instructed Development Information that he dominated in its favour.
On 2 January, the contractor filed a brand new lawsuit in opposition to SSL to put into effect the adjudicator’s determination.
Laing O’Rourke didn’t verify the volume that SSL used to be ordered to pay.
The case arises from a £331m design and construct contract that the tier one company entered into with SSL in November 2021.
The undertaking concerned a ramification of the studios, together with the addition of sound phases, workshops, manufacturing places of work, and different constructions and infrastructure.
On 15 December 2023, SSL and Laing O’Rourke entered right into a deed of variation to extend the contract sum to £367m and revised the crowning glory date to January 2024.
The undertaking reached sensible crowning glory in April 2024.
On 24 July 2025, Laing O’Rourke submitted an utility for fee of £5.6m plus VAT.
Six days later, Gardiner & Theobald (G&T), SSL’s employer’s agent, issued a fee understand for the web sum of £2.4m.
This used to be adopted through a pay-less understand on 19 August wherein G&T disputed the £2.4m bill and claimed SSL owed Laing O’Rourke not anything after it had deducted prices for damages, utilities and catering, totalling £2.4m.
The contractor argued that SSL’s fee and pay-less notices are invalid as a result of they don’t set out the root on which the sums had been calculated.
SSL requested the Prime Court docket to overturn the adjudication – which used to be ongoing when it submitted its criminal declare – if it dominated in opposition to it.
Laing O’Rourke stated the adjudicator has now dominated in its favour and lodged court docket motion on 2 January to put into effect fee. It’s not recognized on which day the judgment – which isn’t made public – used to be made or the volume SSL used to be ordered to pay.
A Laing O’Rourke spokesperson stated: “There used to be a freelance dispute the place an adjudication determination used to be made in Laing O’Rourke’s favour. That adjudication determination will have to be enforced.”
SSL didn’t reply to CN’s request for remark.
