The High Court has awarded architect David Gilligan and Gilligan Architects Limited most of their costs following a 28-day construction trial in which Aysar Barbouti recovered €57,510.57 but failed on virtually all disputed issues.
In a costs judgment delivered on 13 March 2026, Ms Justice Siobhán Stack held that Barbouti should receive costs only on the Circuit Court scale up to and including the first day of trial. The architects were awarded their costs from Day 2 onwards, together with a further differential costs order reflecting the higher costs they had incurred in the High Court before trial.
The underlying proceedings involved Ashdrum Lodge Limited, trading as Kiernan Homes, Barbouti and the two architectural third parties. The principal judgment had awarded Barbouti €57,510.57, comprising 50% of damages relating to defective haunching on garden walls and the full cost of underpinning warehouse foundations.
However, the court noted that the third parties had conceded liability on the two matters producing that award before trial. They estimated Barbouti had succeeded on only two of 24 issues and recovered just under 4% of the sum claimed.
Five days before trial, the architects made a Calderbank settlement offer of €170,250 plus costs and offered to waive their substantial professional fees. The offer remained open until the end of Day 2 but was rejected.
Ms Justice Stack found the offer highly relevant. From its refusal, she said, Barbouti was essentially wholly unsuccessful in the litigation that continued.
The judge also found that the statutory rule automatically limiting costs to a lower-court scale did not directly apply to these third-party proceedings. She instead exercised the High Court's broader discretion under section 168 of the Legal Services Regulation Act 2015.
The resulting order leaves Barbouti with limited pre-trial costs but liable for the architects' costs for almost the entire hearing.