Published Monday 3 August 2026 · By the JustEng team
The forensic and disputes calendar has rarely looked busier. A landmark English judgment has put a value on defective cladding product claims for the first time, an Italian court has convicted 32 people over a bridge collapse that killed 43, and the courts have quietly rewritten their own rulebook for building safety litigation. Below is what moved, and what each development means for forensic engineer recruitment and expert witness hiring.
Landmark cladding product ruling lifts demand for forensic engineer recruitment
The Technology and Construction Court has handed down judgment in Mulalley & Co Ltd v Sto Ltd and Sto SE & Co. KGaA [2026] EWHC 1552 (TCC), the first decision to quantify a contractor contribution claim against a defective cladding product supplier under section 149 of the Building Safety Act 2022. The court accepted remedial costs of £3,431,633.53, reduced them to £2,025,499.62 on causation, then fixed the supplier just and equitable contribution at 87.5%, awarding £1,772,312.17 plus interest. With Sto Ltd in administration since January 2025, the claim reached the German parent through a Building Liability Order under section 130. Mayer Brown
Hiring angle: A judgment that turns on percentage attribution between product, design and workmanship is won or lost on materials and fire engineering evidence, and claimant firms will now be building teams capable of running that analysis at scale. We are seeing sustained candidate demand for forensic engineers with cladding systems and render expertise, particularly those comfortable giving evidence.
Hotel cladding decision widens the scope of building safety disputes work
In Essendi UK Hotels 2 Ltd v London Property Company Ltd [2026] EWHC 1354 (TCC), the court held that a landlord breached a covenant to keep the hotel in good and substantial repair and condition by failing to replace ACM cladding. Critically, the repairing obligation was found to extend to safety even where there was no physical disrepair and the building sat outside the Building Safety Act regime, with ACM treated as a dangerous substance under the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005. Specific performance was ordered and the tenant was entitled to close the building and claim damages. Penningtons Manches Cooper
Hiring angle: Extending remediation liability to commercial buildings outside the higher-risk regime materially enlarges the instruction pipeline for fire engineers and building surveyors working on the disputes side. Expect consultancies to be headhunting people who can assess non-residential stock and defend that assessment under cross-examination.
Genoa bridge verdict tests corporate accountability for infrastructure maintenance
A court in Genoa has convicted 32 defendants over the 2018 Morandi bridge collapse, which killed 43 people, delivering its first-instance verdict on 16 July after four years of hearings. Giovanni Castellucci, former chief executive of motorway operator Autostrade per l’Italia and its then parent Atlantia, received 12 years; Michele Donferri Mitelli received 11 and Mauro Coletta, who ran the transport ministry oversight of motorway concessions, received five. Of the 57 who stood trial, 25 were acquitted or saw charges expire. Al Jazeera
Hiring angle: Verdicts that turn on maintenance decisions and structural monitoring push asset owners worldwide to invest in inspection and structural assessment capability well before anything reaches court. That is a direct driver of candidate demand for bridge and asset integrity engineers, and of forensic engineering vacancies on the investigation side.
Remediation Contribution Order hits an associated company for £3.68m
The First-tier Tribunal has made a Remediation Contribution Order under section 124 of the Building Safety Act for £3,682,997.78 against a developer associated company in relation to Hallings Wharf Studios in London E15. The tribunal held that a relevant defect under section 120 is a single-stage risk test, and that over-engineering is no defence where the remedial scheme falls within the range of reasonable responses. It also doubted that section 124 permits recovery of litigation costs, refusing a claim of more than £1m. Mayer Brown
Hiring angle: The range of reasonable responses test rewards defensible, well-documented engineering judgement, which raises the premium on chartered fire and structural engineers who can justify a remediation scheme in tribunal. Salaries at that level have moved noticeably — our forensic engineering salary guide tracks where the market now sits.
Adjudication enforcement upheld on £956k liquidated damages award
In Clerkenwell Lifestyle (UK) Ltd v HG Construction Ltd [2026] EWHC 1406 (TCC), the court enforced an adjudicator award of £955,943.43 in liquidated damages. The judge held that an email exchange in February 2023 did not create a binding agreement varying completion dates outside the JCT Design and Build 2016 extension of time mechanism, and that a defence not advanced in the adjudication response cannot later found a natural justice or jurisdiction challenge. Mayer Brown
Hiring angle: Delay and quantum analysis of this kind is consistently the most under-supplied skill in the disputes market, and planners who can build a defensible as-built programme remain among the hardest people to recruit. Firms are increasingly headhunting from contractor planning teams rather than waiting for consultancy candidates to appear.
New TCC Guide brings building safety and AI into the rulebook
The fourth edition of the Technology and Construction Court Guide was published on 1 July 2026, the first revision in four years. It adds dedicated sections on Building Safety Act 2022 proceedings, rewrites the procurement guidance to reflect the Procurement Act 2023, and addresses the use of artificial intelligence in TCC proceedings for the first time. Mayer Brown
Hiring angle: Formal guidance on AI in court raises the bar for how expert evidence is prepared and disclosed, and experts who understand both the engineering and the evidential rules will command a premium. We expect disputes practices to prioritise that combination in their next round of hiring.
JustEng is a specialist engineering recruitment agency headhunting hard-to-find forensic, fire and structural engineers for consultancies, expert practices and disputes teams in the UK and internationally. If you are an engineer considering a move into forensic work, submit your CV. If you are hiring, register your vacancy and we will begin the search today.