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Jane Moir

Mansion Holdings has received one of the highest damages penalties in recent years for botched work on the mainland's tallest building after a judge criticised the company for 'acting totally out of bad faith'.

A litany of incompetence and delays forced a contractor to abort Mansion's HK$78.2 million work on Sky Central Plaza - now Citic Plaza - in Guangzhou.

At one point, it was claimed that the site was on the brink of being closed by authorities as a result of Mansion's failure to complete its work.

Yesterday, Mansion - a fire fighting services and engineering company - was ordered to pay damages of HK$15.79 million.

It must also reimburse contractor Tridant Engineering for costs, expenses and losses suffered as a result of the severed contract.

Deputy Judge Anthony To Kwai-fung ruled: 'Mansion were not just failing in their performance or failing in ordering a particular plant or equipment.

'They were deliberately holding proper performance at ransom and acting totally out of bad faith.' His ruling brings to a close four years of legal sparring between the companies.

The trial has spanned three weeks.

Tridant hit Mansion with a lawsuit in 1996 after it was forced to terminate three contracts on the basis that Mansion failed to execute its work with due diligence and regularity.

Mansion was to be responsible for fire-services work and the plumbing and drainage works on the building, starting in July 1995.

However, it soon fell behind. For example, there were problems with Mansion's supply and delivery of materials.

If it did deliver, they were often the wrong materials, or they were delivered at the wrong time.

Labour shortages and sloppy management also dogged progress, the judge said.

For example, the site manager would turn up only four times a month, often staying for only a few hours.

The foreman had the wrong training, and local supervisors often did not understand the instructions - in English - or the relevant drawings.

By October, Tridant terminated the contracts.

'If Mansion's progress was out of tune with the other sub-contractors', the progress of the whole project would be severely affected,' Deputy Judge To said.

At that time, Mansion had achieved less than 40 per cent of its programme. As far as the fire services work was concerned, it had 'failed utterly', the judge said.

Deputy Judge To ruled that Mansion was clearly in breach of its duty to regularly and diligently ensure the progress of the works. Moreover, on top of failing to provide adequate labour and supervision, it refused to order plant and equipment unless Tridant entered into further contracts with a Mansion subsidiary.

At the end of the day, Deputy Judge To stressed, although Mansion had begun to show signs of improvement in its work on Sky Central Plaza, to catch up in a short period would be 'to cry for the moon'.

A separate hearing on costs and interest will be heard at a later date.

Last month Mansion announced an attributable loss of HK$60.8 million for the year to December 31, compared with a profit of HK$339.1 million in 1998.



Mansion fined for building site failings