Two major British companies have been sentenced after a 130-kilogram window panel fell from the 26th floor of a luxury residential tower in London, United Kingdom, killing a bus driver who was on a break at street level. Inner London Crown Court sentenced developer St James Limited (part of Berkeley Group) and facade subcontractor Lindner Prater Limited on 24 September 2026.
What happened
On 2 October 2018, at around 10:30, a window fell from the Corniche building on Albert Embankment, from a height of approximately 90 metres. The window struck a 53-year-old bus driver who was on a break at street level, killing him. The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) launched a criminal investigation into the construction and maintenance of the building’s windows.
The investigation found that the windows had been changed from an inward-opening to an outward-opening design without an effective risk assessment being carried out. The safety of the modified system depended on a single restrictor, which was fixed to the frame with only one screw. The fittings manufacturer had never approved them for use in the building’s bespoke, curved windows. As early as August 2017, during construction, a similar window had already fallen. Despite that incident and a subsequent internal review, the concerns raised were not effectively followed up.
Both St James Limited and Lindner Prater Limited were found guilty of breaching Section 3(1) of the Health and Safety at Work Act 1974, which requires employers and principal contractors to safeguard the safety of third parties beyond their own staff. St James Limited, as the client and developer of the Corniche project responsible for the building’s overall safety, was fined £1 million plus £125,000 in costs. Lindner Prater Limited, the subcontractor that supplied and installed the facade and windows, must pay a £300,000 fine plus £125,000 in costs. Together, the penalties total more than £1.5 million, making this one of the most severe construction safety sentences in the United Kingdom in recent years.
Conclusions
HSE inspector Andrew Verrall-Withers concluded that too much reliance had been placed on a small warning sign near the window, in the hope that residents would not leave it open. According to the inspector, this fatal accident, and the earlier near-miss during construction, could have been prevented if the risks of the modified window design had been properly assessed and a sound, dual-secured restrictor system had been used instead of a single, poorly fixed restrictor. The investigation further found that communication between the client, main contractor and facade subcontractor about the late design change had not been adequately managed, meaning no one in the chain took full responsibility for reassessing the structural safety of the modified window system before residents moved into the building.
Recommendations
HSE stresses that principal designers must clearly define the scope of architects’ and other designers’ work and then actively monitor their performance throughout the construction process. Only in this way can risks arising from design changes be identified in time and necessary improvements coordinated between parties, rather than relying on warning labels or standalone user instructions as a last line of defence. HSE stresses that this applies just as much to changes made late in the construction process, such as the reversal of the windows’ opening direction in this project, where the design’s original safety assumptions can silently fall away without being explicitly reviewed.
Context
Also investigated: in its own safety bulletin on the risks of falls from windows, HSE points to the need for properly fitted, approved restrictor systems, precisely because users do not always heed warnings. Since the Grenfell disaster, building safety in high-rise buildings in the United Kingdom has been further tightened under the Building Safety Act 2022, which places stricter duties on clients and designers to manage safety risks throughout a building’s entire life cycle. This case shows that design changes made even after a facade has been completed require the same rigorous risk assessment.
Source: Two major companies sentenced over death of man killed by window falling from luxury penthouse, 24 September 2026
