- Lambert Smith Hampton is trying to resolve the £90m claim against it before a full Lord Street trial
- Developer Sondica says LSH remains a critical witness to what happened during the disputed Government tender
- But the long-running case has sparked a wider debate in which LSH’s client, the Isle of Man government, has come under fire
- Douglas Council leader Devon Watson says the empty site represents “massive mismanagement” of public land
- Watson argues years of outsourcing and reduced state capacity have left the Island struggling to deliver housing and regeneration
- Meanwhile in Birmingham, LSH has just bagged a £500,000 deal to advise the local council on similar public sector issues
Lambert Smith Hampton is trying to get out of the £90 million Lord Street litigation before the full factual dispute surrounding the Government tender reaches trial.
The property consultancy argues that the costs of preparing a full defence should not have to be incurred if the court first decides that it never owed claimant Sondica Group Inc the legal duty alleged.
Sondica strongly disagrees, stating LSH remains a critical witness to how its Lord Street recommendation changed during the tender process.
The claimant says LSH initially produced a signed recommendation identifying their state-of-the-art scheme – which included much-needed residential accommodation – as the best bid.
But after a later recommendation, LSH then surprisingly took a different position.
Sondica alleges intervention by a government official, which is denied.
Meanwhile, LSH has secured a new Birmingham City Council contract worth up to £500,000.
Birmingham is buying independent professional scrutiny of developers’ financial appraisals from the controversial property consultants.
But while the government and LSH continue to argue about liability, duty of care and how the case should proceed – and LSH continue to win lucrative public sector contracts – Douglas Council leader Devon Watson says the empty Lord Street site has become evidence of a much wider failure.
Standing beside the site in an interview with Expose.News, Watson described it as a symbol of “massive mismanagement” of public land.
“This should be a hub of economic activity,” he said.
“There should be housing, there should be young people, there should be a lot of people living and working and activity in the city centre.”
Instead, he said, the former bus station remains empty despite occupying some of the most valuable land in the capital.
For Watson, the problem goes beyond the failed Lord Street tender.
He argues that the Isle of Man has steadily weakened its own capacity to deliver major projects while becoming increasingly dependent on outside consultants and contractors.
“What the Isle of Man Government has done for a long time is it’s reduced its state capacity, it’s increased its reliance on contractors, it’s increased its reliance on outsourcing,” he said.
The result, he argues, is fewer successfully delivered public projects and more sites which remain stalled or underused.
That criticism gives the LSH dispute a wider political context.
Lord Street is not simply a lawsuit about whether one professional consultancy owed one unsuccessful bidder a duty of care.
It also raises questions about how Government uses private advisers, how public land is managed and how decisions about some of Douglas’s most important development sites are made.
Watson says the answer should involve rebuilding public-sector capacity and giving local institutions a stronger role.
He criticised the tendency for Government departments to “subcontract and reach out to consultants to figure out what we should do with the city centre”, instead of relying more heavily on communities, local authorities and businesses.
He also links the stalled regeneration of central Douglas to the Island’s housing crisis and the loss of younger residents to cities including Manchester, Liverpool and London.
Watson supports greater state housebuilding, stronger intervention on vacant land and measures such as a vacancy tax designed to make it more expensive to leave valuable sites unused.
The legal battle over Lord Street continues.
LSH denies Sondica’s case and is entitled to ask the court to determine preliminary legal issues before trial.
But outside the courtroom, Watson’s argument is simpler.
After years of advisers, tenders, litigation and competing development plans, the most visible fact remains the same. One of the most important sites in the heart of Douglas is still largely empty.
