Too little, too late for Austin-Smith Lord
ASL's cultural project in Abu Dhabi
Beleaguered practice will recoup just over a third of Abu Dhabi debt
Austin-Smith Lord, which was forced to close its London office earlier this month, is to recoup just over a third of the £4 million owed to it by its Abu Dhabi client.
The 62-year-old practice ran into trouble last year when client Adach refused to pay fees totalling £11.5 million for its work as lead consultant on the Qasr al-Hosn cultural quarter in Abu Dhabi. While some of this has since been paid to other parties, the architect has been offered just £1.5 million.
According to a report by insolvency practitioner BDO, the firm may receive less than half of this after claims by 14 ex-staff in Abu Dhabi are dealt with. They have filed claims totalling £781,000 , which if successful will be deducted from the £1.5 million.
Meanwhile, increasing numbers of UK staff have made unfair dismissal claims in an attempt to recoup the remainder of their unpaid salaries.
A former staff member who has filed an unfair dismissal claim said: “We are all owed certain sums of money and it’s difficult getting that money from the CVA process.
“The employment tribunal simply strengthens our case. I believe the practice is still pursuing the sums of money that are owed to them. We are not very well informed.”
Most of the redundant UK staff have received payments of just £800 in wages plus holiday pay and pensions contributions. Ninety-seven UK employees who have been made redundant are owed around £850,000, with some individuals owed up to £45,000.
Under the terms of the CVA (company voluntary arrangement) it entered into last year, ASL agreed to pay creditors 85p in every pound owed. But the arrangement relied on Adach’s debt being paid in full.
ASL’s largest creditor, Arup, which was owed £3.8 million, has received direct payments from Adach and the secured creditor Lloyds TSB was owed £1.41million and has been paid in full.
According to BDO, the UAE court rejected a bid for the Abu Dhabi staff’s claims to be dealt with under UK insolvency law.
ASL declined to comment.
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- Laid-off staff hit out at Austin-Smith Lord
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- Austin-Smith Lord ex-staffers in Abu Dhabi take out injunctions
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Readers' comments (9)
The real question is how can a company accept such appalling contract and payment plan on something this big that it can get into a position where it is owed £ 11.5 million and is not litigating for the arrears! No architectural office, even a large one like ASL can simply "cash-flow" sums like that. Clearly Arups and Lloyds TSB didn't let themselves get taken for quite the same ride. Appalling management incompetence is to blame, and staff who did as they were asked and expecting that the office's management had done their job too are now paying the price.
I do feel sorry for the 97 former employees who have suffered financially through unpaid wages. The poor management of the finances and the ADDACH project has left many more in a situation of redundancy since 2009. It appears those made redundant prior to 2011 had a very lucky escape.
If that really is a picture of the Cultural Centre, you can see why nobody wanted topay for it.
I'm finding it difficult to understand the picture associated with this story. Is that how architecture in Abu Dhabi is expressed these days? Its very dramatic, but a few plans and sections and elevations are needed to try to understand it.
This what you get when you Google it
http://universes-in-universe.org/eng/nafas/articles/2011/hassan_sharif_abu_dhabi/img/01
Perhaps there's more...
Facebook and other pages suggest other interpretations of what was going on
Hard to see how this went north of 12 Million in fees alone all the same unless it was a total new build
http://www.facebook.com/ADACHCommunity
And then we have Jane Wentworth with a very tame looking billboard
http://janewentworth.com/our-clients/qasr-al-hosn/
And finally, there's this - bearing a lot of resemblance to a Fort under renovation and not a lot of resemblance to the picture above
http://gulfnews.com/news/gulf/uae/general/qasr-al-hosn-standing-guard-overa-rich-culture-1.857177
Talking of ASL victims, there is a rather poisonous piece in this issue under the title "Anyone's after a pint" about a load of unprofessional tossers who pay below the going rate and interview in a pub, aided and abetted by an equally unprofessional "journalist" who doesn't mind a bit of mud-slinging and betrayal of confidence expected in an interview situation. You should be effing ashamed of yourselves, if your company folds don't come grovelling in my gutter. I hope your software turns hard and your high-tech erections turn to jelly.
Yours fatuously,
Judge Mental (mate of Jack)