Marks & Spencer seeks order to halt work at Frascati centre

Marks & Spencer is to seek a High Court injunction halting redevelopment works at the Frascati Shopping Centre in Blackrock, Co Dublin, until certain concerns have been addressed.

It says the planned works will materially affect the visibility of, and access to, the supermarket it has run under a lease taken out in 2005 at an annual rent of €650,000.

Marks & Spencer (M&S) wants a court order directing that a new entrance to its store be constructed under the redevelopment which would be opposite any new entrance the owners want to construct to the centre.

Alternatively, it wants a new entrance to its store which would be similar in nature to the existing entrance and ensure the same level of “customer visibility” is maintained.

It wants the cost of these works, estimated at €2.5 million, to be borne by the centre owners IMRF II Frascati Ltd Partnership, against which it has brought legal proceedings.

As an alternative to the works sought, M&S wants a declaration that, by reason of a derogation from the lease between it and the original landlords, Mecca International, the premises is unfit for the purpose for which the lease was granted and voidable at the election of the supermarket chain. It also, or in the alternative, seeks damages for breach of contract.

Planning permission

Mr Justice McGovern admitted the case to the Commercial Court list on Monday on consent of the parties, and said a hearing of M&S’s injunction application could take place later this month.

In an affidavit, M&S director and country manager Ken Scully said the previous owners of Frascati got planning permission for the redevelopment to which M&S did not object on the assumption any works would be in compliance with their lease.

M&S contends the works which began last January were started without adequate or meaningful engagement with them.

Last February M&S sent a proposal to IMRF II's agent, Invesco, seeking to address concerns arising from the redevelopment works both in relation to ongoing concerns and to its ability to trade effectively once the work was completed.

The defendant failed or refused “to engage in any meaningful way”, and M&S brought the legal proceedings, Mr Scully said.

In its injunction application it claims various matters were required to be addressed before construction began. These include access to the M&S store, management of transport around the centre, access to its loading bay for deliveries, health and safety issues, the loss of around 270 car park spaces during construction and the general impact of dust, noise and dirt from building works.