Victoria Square apartments Belfast: Architects behind complex become latest stakeholder to refuse to comment on cause of construction failings

The owners have not been able to sell or rent the properties or live in them since that, but are still paying insurance, rates, maintenance and in some cases mortgages.

Last week the High Court ruled that it could not entertain a claim for compensation against the builders and architect, Farrans Construction, Gilbert & Ash and Building Design Partnership (BDP), as the legislation in Northern Ireland places a six year legal limit on any such claims, which has now been passed.

In court, Farrans, Gilbert & Ash and BDP, vehemently denied any liability and applied to have the claim struck out as it had passed the time limit. As a result, no discussion of the cause of the flaw in the column was discussed in court.

On Friday the News Letter asked Farrans and Gilbert & Ash if they had ever offered any sort of explanation for the flaw to the distressed residents.

Gilbert-Ash did not respond to any inquiries while Farrans declined to comment.

East Belfast MP Gavin Robinson told the News Letter on Friday that the reputation of the firms behind the complex has undoubtedly been damaged.

"Their lack of candour does not instil confidence and they have been reputable and trusted firms, firms that have built up a reputation for good quality construction that customers can have confidence in," he told the News Letter.

"But the lack of candour on this occasion, removes that confidence. There is much more they could be doing, in my opinion, to satisfy the concerns and provide solutions for the owners of the Victoria Square apartments, and they should get on and do it.”

Today the News Letter approached Farrans and Gilbert & Ash again for a reaction to his comments. This paper also approached BDP today for the first time. All of them remained tight lipped.

A spokesman for BDP responded: "I’m afraid there is no comment from BDP".

The construction companies also offered no comment.

Trevor and Gillian McCrory own one of the 91 flats, and have been stretched to their financial limit over the affair.

Trevor said the failure of the three companies to make any comment "makes me angry".

He added: "At least they could come away from the legal aspects of this whole case and just try to reassure us of some things if they can. They could do something and not do nothing.

"Even if some of their legal representatives would just speak to us, it doesn't have to be an employee of the company.

"What if some of their family members were being pushed into this situation? Would they not want the builder or architect to come in and do something?"

He added: "People need to know that this is the sort of treatment that they might get in the future if the same thing happens to them, whether from these companies or from the construction industry and architects in general."

His wife Gillian added: "They have been able to ignore our pain for the past five years but we have lived with this every day, going nowhere."