Celebrity design twin wins £40k court fight with home architects
A CELEBRITY designer and her father have emerged victorious from a court battle with architects over substandard work on their £1.6 million Chelsea home renovation.
Natasha Surguladze — one half of identical twin design duo Tata Naka — has been locked in a court fight over unpaid fees with architects Donald Insall Associates.
She and her father Michael Surguladze wanted two adjoining houses largely demolished to make way for a f o u r- s t o r e y double-fronted brick townhouse, which would be the newfamilyhome they shared with Natasha’s twin sister Tamara.
However, plans for the “large scale and unusual project” ran into difficulties when design drawings failed to pass building regulations due to issues with a fire escape and disabled access.
The family switched architects and obtained the approval they needed, but were then pursued by Donald Insall Associates for £40,000 in alleged unpaid fees, Central London county court heard. The firm insisted that the unpaid fees were owed, despite their plans failing to receive approval, as they had carried out a significant amount of work.
Judge David Saunders has now ruled that the Surguladzes were right to refuse to pay the architects’ bill as the work they were seeking payment fo r h a d “not met the required standard”.
“The plans were of limited value and building regulations approval was refused ... there has been a consequential lack of care and skill on the part of t h e c l a i ma n t s ,” h e added.