1. little professor said...

Nick and Christian Candy, the developers of apartments for the super-rich, are heading for a high court clash with the Qatari royal family following the withdrawal of plans for the UK's most expensive residential scheme at Chelsea Barracks.

CPC Group, the development group run by the Candy brothers, has lodged a claim against Qatari Diar Real Estate Investment, the property company backed by the emirate of Qatar, a long-time business partner of the UK developers.

The pair were planning to develop the former 12.8-acre Chelsea Barracks site near Sloane Square in west London into a £3bn luxury apartment complex designed by Lord Rogers.

Project Blue, the former joint venture between CPC and Qatari Diar, acquired the site in 2007 for close to £1bn. The scheme faced criticism from the Prince of Wales, which was said to have influenced Qatar to abandon the plans.

In a suit filed on Thursday, CPC is claiming substantial sums of money. A party close to Qatar said that this was related to the withdrawal of the plans. The details of the claim will not be known until it is published in full.

The Candy brothers were no longer involved in the scheme by the time that the planning application was withdrawn this summer. Qatari Diar bought out CPC in November last year. Neither party would comment last night.

The brothers have previously lodged a legal complaint for other work on the scheme, claiming they are owed more than £1m in fees for work by their Candy & Candy design company in a dispute resolution process against Project Blue.

The Candy brothers' remaining big UK development is at One Hyde Park, in partnership with Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani, Qatari Diar chairman