Lendlease Settles with Haringey Council in £4bn HDV Lawsuit

Lendlease and Haringey Council have come to terms to avoid a damaging Court case over the HDV.

Earlier this month, Lendlease submitted documents to the High Court which alleged that the council had breached the contract between the two of them and had also breached its obligations under European Union procurement law.

Haringey Council, however, said in its defence that these claims are “inconsistent with the express terms of the procurement documents” and denied all wrongdoing.

Originally, the Council had agreed to form the Haringey Development Vehicle (HDV) with Lendlease, a joint vehicle into which it would transfer a large portion of its land and buildings.

It was predicted at the time that the HDV would eventually be worth £4bn and would pay fees to Lendlease for managing the developments.

After local opposition, however, pro-HDV Labour councillors were deselected by local party members and replaced with anti-HDV candidates, who took control of the council in May’s local elections.

In July, the new Council voted to cancel the HDV and establish instead a wholly-owned development company.

The resolution of the dispute, in which Lendlease was trying to claw back some of the £4 million it had already spent on the Haringey Development Vehicle (HDV) joint venture, clears the air for Lendlease's other project with Haringey – the 2500-home High Road West scheme in Tottenham to redevelop public housing and disused land into a mixed residential and commercial precinct.

The terms of the settlement have not been made public, and neither Lendlease nor Haringey would comment further.