An entrepreneur behind a £400m scheme to build the world’s biggest residential superyacht has been hit with a total court bill of over £1million after being sued by the vessel’s British designers.

The giant boat – M/Y Somnio – is described as a cross between a floating ‘six-star hotel’ and a private superyacht.

It is the brainchild of Carl Le Souef, 62, an Australian ‘professional investor’ who has been planning the ‘ambitious’ build since 2007.

At 728 feet long the vessel has been dubbed ‘floating millionaire’s row’ and promises to offer residents access to an ‘onboard beach’ and a 10,000-bottle wine cellar. 

British superyacht specialist Winch Design began working on the project in 2019, with the ship stated to be launching in 2024.

But, with that deadline having passed without the yacht hitting the water, Winch complained to Mr Le Souef that their £733,750 bill for the project, had not been paid.

Mr Le Souef argued that he was not liable, but in a judgment given last month Judge Lesley Anderson KC ordered him to pay up in full.

He has also been told to pay the bulk of the design company’s £300,000 legal costs for the row, taking his total court bill to over £1m.

Mr Le Souef founded Somnio – meaning ‘To Dream’ in Latin – with Erik Bredhe, captain of MS The World at the time of his 2007 trip. 

The pair envisaged creating a ‘highly exclusive, ultra-luxury residential yacht’ complete with 39 bespoke apartments at a cost of £8.1 million apiece.

The plan was to secure funding from a consortium of investors, each of whom would put down a non-refundable deposit of £100,000 to secure an apartment.

Featuring six floors and a variety of restaurants, bars, swimming pools and other facilities, including water sports and high-end medical care, the yacht remains classified as ‘under construction’.

In promotional material, the website for the Somnio project states: ‘Somnio is being built by Norwegian shipyard VARD, a subsidiary of the Italian shipbuilding giant, Fincantieri.

‘At 222 metres in length, Somnio has been purposefully designed to offer the right balance between generous spaces for the community to enjoy and private residences to call home.

‘Somnio’s service standards will include the amenities and service of a six-star hotel, including full concierge services for both onboard and land-based needs.’

The website adds that the vessel will have two restaurants with al fresco dining, a spectacular 10,000 bottle wine cellar and tasting room and a top deck lounge and library.

It also says there will be a Connoisseur Club with fine liquors and a wide range of cigars, a movie theatre, a state-of-the-art spa and world class medical and fitness facilities.

Winch Design’s own site says of the project: ‘Winch Design is thrilled to announce our collaboration in the exterior and interior design of what will be the largest superyacht in the world. 

‘Stretching 222m in length, with a gross tonnage of 33,500 GT and breaking all the records in the book, this unprecedented feat of design and engineering is set to change the course of ultra-luxury travel forever.’

Judge Anderson KC, explaining the case in last month judgment at London’s High Court, said: ‘This is a dispute about an ambitious project…to build a luxury yacht, comprising several single, luxurious, residential apartments, which is intended to be one of the largest and most luxurious yachts ever to be built.

‘The claimant, Winch Design Limited, is an English company that provides design services in relation to the manufacture of, amongst other things, luxury yachts.

‘The defendant, Mr Le Souef, is an entrepreneur and businessman and an Australian national. There is some disagreement over his true net worth or at least how that was projected to Winch.

‘According to Mr Le Souef, the total estimated cost of the project is $500 million (£400m).

‘According to its accounts for the year ended 30 June 2021, Somnio had raised $760,000 for the project’s initial research and feasibility costs.’

The judge explained that Winch had signed a contract with Mr Le Souef in 2021, under which he agreed to pay the company £5.25m for their design work on the yacht. 

The work and payments were to take place in phases and instalments.

But whilst Winch’s first invoice under the contract of £200,000 was paid in April 2021, the judge said the next three invoices for a total of £733,750 issued between April and May 2021 were not paid, leading Winch to eventually cease work on the project and, after still not being paid almost four years later, sue Mr Le Souef for its money.

Mr Le Souef fought the demand on various grounds, claiming amongst other things that he was not personally responsible to pay, and that a senior figure at Winch had agreed not to sue for payment of their bills, having been told that Mr Le Souef needed time to raise more funds over a fish dinner at Lucio’s restaurant in Chelsea.

But, ordering Mr Le Souef to pay up, the judge said that the contract made it clear that he was personally responsible for the payment and rejected his account of the restaurant meeting and the alleged agreement not to sue.

He also backed Winch’s decision to down tools, pointing out that the contract gave them the right to do so.

‘I am satisfied that the disputed invoices are accrued debts under the terms of the contract.

‘I have found that there was no promise or assurance on the part of Winch to forebear seeking payment of the disputed invoices,’ he added.

In a short hearing last week following last month’s judgment, Judge Anderson ordered Mr Le Souef to pay Winch’s main costs of the case, which amounted to over £300,000, made up of £134,927.28 incurred early in the case, plus around another £164,000 spent after costs budgetting had taken place.

The judge ordered that Mr Le Souef should be paid £3,000 towards his own costs because Winch had not properly engaged in a mediation process with him pre-trial.

Along with the £733,750 he has been ordered to pay, the costs order takes Mr Le Souef’s total bill for the case to seven figures.