One of Yorkshire’s leading textile suppliers has expressed its “sadness and anger” towards Muse Developments in a bitter row over a new concrete floor at Logic Leeds.
Hussein Kahil, projects manager of Pegasus World, says he feels his trust has been betrayed by Muse.
Mr Kahil is furious about the state of the floor at the fulfilment centre at Curo House at Muse’s Logic Leeds business park, with problems including an uneven finish, exposed flooring fibres and a patchy and scratched appearance.
The concrete floor at the building was installed by a subcontractor in 2021. Mr Kahil said that he had spent the last three years trying to resolve the issue.
Pegasus World owns another building, Pegasus House, at Logic Leeds, where the flooring is perfect. It was because of the success of Pegasus House that the company decided to invest in Curo House at Logic Leeds.
Muse has disputed the claims, saying that the work was delivered to the specification and standard set out in the development agreement.
Hussein Kahil commented: “That is simply not true. There is no way we would have signed a development agreement if we knew the floor was going to look as it does. We are extremely unhappy about both the quality and the safety of the finish. It is a disgrace.”
“When we gave Muse the opportunity to build Curo House, it was on the basis that it would be the same quality as our head office, Pegasus House, which is also at Logic Leeds,” he said.
Different contractors were used to build the 61,000 sq ft warehouse than those used to build Pegasus House.
“During the building process we started to see some problems with the warehouse floor - the scratches, the fibres, the discoloration and the uneven patches,” said Mr Kahil.
“They always gave us the excuse that it would settle within time and everything would look the same. But a year later there was no change. We raised it and the contractor came out many times, giving us the same excuse that it would settle over time.”
Pegasus World took legal action to try to break through the stalemate, which resulted in numerous letters sent between the two parties.
“Still, we have been getting nowhere. They insist it’s within building regulations and refuse to admit that they’ve done a really bad job. They didn’t show any effort or willingness to fix the real issues and they scratched part of the floor even more with the machine they used when they tried to remedy the situation.”
He added: “We’ve spent millions of pounds on this building and what we expect is the same quality and finish on the floor as Pegasus House. We feel incredibly let down as we have worked well with Muse before and have invested heavily in Logic Leeds. We cannot believe Muse don’t want to solve this problem amicably. They just refuse to engage. We are sad and angry – and feel badly betrayed.
"It’s like you’re buying a car. The engine works but the outside is all scratched. The floor is usable but the finished quality is not there.”
Muse has disputed the claims, saying that the work was delivered to the specification and standard set out in the development agreement.
A Muse spokesperson said: “All works at Curo House have been delivered to the specification and standard set out in the development agreement.
"This has been verified and approved by an independent contract administrator working with independent specialists.”
