Victoria Square apartments row: The lack of candour from the construction firms removes long established confidence in their brands, MP says

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 on the properties.

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

The apartment owners were seeking compensation of around £25m. However construction firms Farrans Construction, which operates through the UK and Ireland, and international firm Gilbert-Ash, 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.

The News Letter contacted the construction firms repeatedly on Friday and asked 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, a barrister, has met with the apartment owners and spoke this week of the "intrinsic unfairness" they are suffering.

He said the reputation of the construction firms has undoubtedly been damaged by how they had acted.

"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.

He noted that following the Grenfell tower disaster in England, parliament passed the Building Safety Act which extended the limitation period to 30 years for compensation. He noted that Communities Minister Gordon Lyons is now looking at passing similar legislation, retrospectively. The MP added that it was "patently untrue" that this was not possible.

On Wednesday senior citizen Patrick McKeague told the News Letter that he stands to lose both his home and life savings as a result of the situation.

He put his life savings into his apartment, which cost him around £225,000 in 2011.

"I really enjoyed living in the centre of Belfast. It was a lovely apartment,” he said.

"So to get the news in 2019 that the supporting column was defective was really quite a shock."

Patrick has been paying £320 service charges every quarter ever since, which covers formal monitoring of the supporting column.

As to whether he has lost his full £225,000, he says the answer to that question is "unknowable" at this time.

He is currently living in accomodation provided by his family.

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