When will an Information Order be granted pursuant to section 132 of the Building Safety Act 2022 (the “Act”) and how does this interface with a Building Liability Order (a “BLO”).

BDW Trading Limited (“BDW) v Ardmore Construction Limited (“ACL”) and others [2025] EWHC 434 offers some useful and new guidance on these issues, which go to the heart of some of the most important mechanisms and provisions contained in the Act.

Background

The background to the Judgment concerns a number of fire safety related defects and structural issues identified at a series of developments that BDW, a developer, had engaged Ardmore, a design and build contractor, to construct.

BDW estimates the aggregate total of the rectification costs across the developments to be around £85m.  BDW is pursuing a number of separate claims against ACL for payment of these costs (primarily arising from ACL’s alleged liability to BDW under the Defective Premises Act 1972).

BDW made two applications for Information Orders (the first against ACL and the second against alleged “associated” Ardmore companies) to obtain further information relevant to the wider Ardmore group financial position and corporate structure. The applications were said to have been made so as to enable BDW to make informed decisions as to whether it should seek a BLO against the alleged associated Ardmore group companies.

What did the Judgment confirm?

The Judge (HHJ Keyser KC) dismissed BDW’s applications against the Ardmore group companies, confirming that an application for an Information Order can only be made against the original (contracting) body corporate, not against the potentially associated companies.

The application against ACL (i.e. the original body corporate) was also dismissed: the information sought was considered unnecessary for the purposes of enabling BDW to decide whether to apply for a BLO.

Key takeaways

The Judgment provided the following new guidance on BLOs and Information Orders:

• BLOs can be sought and awarded on an indemnity basis and in circumstances where the original body corporate’s relevant liability remains in dispute and is yet to be established.
• Information Order applications should be “short and uncomplicated”.
• Information Order applications can only be made against the original body corporate and not any actual or alleged associates.
• The Court will be quick to reject Information Order applications that seek disclosure of information and documents that are “commercially intrusive without sufficient justification,” and will only order disclosure where the documents are held by the original body corporate (or if it has the power to obtain them).

The case bulletin is attached here. If the issues raised impact your business, or you would like to discuss the content further, please don’t hesitate to contact us. Our team is on hand to provide straightforward and commercial legal advice.

Featured Lawyers:

Daniel Silberstein | Partner 

Shauna O’Neil| Solicitor

This article contains information of general interest about current legal issues, but does not provide legal advice. It is prepared for the general information of our clients and other interested parties. This article should not be relied upon in any specific situation without appropriate legal advice. If you require legal advice on any of the issues raised in this article, please contact one of our specialist construction lawyers.

© Hawkswell Kilvington Limited 2025