What is the practical value of step-in rights in collateral warranties? I ask because a number of people have recently questioned me about such rights in the context of a development project: who requires them and in which warranties?
REUTERS | John Kolesidis
June 30, 2009
Is stepping-in the answer?
REUTERS | Robert Pratta
June saw the JCT publish its official “guides” to the changes included in the 2009 revisions to its standard form contracts. Unlike previous JCT guides, these do not give a detailed description of the changes made by the 2009 Revisions. We’ve been looking at the JCT Standard Building Contract, 2005 edition (SBC05). To assist construction practitioners who would otherwise have to carry out their own comparison of the changes, we are working through the amendments and publishing as we go. Continue reading
REUTERS | Eric Thayer
June 26, 2009
UK infrastructure is “vulnerable”
The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) has published a report, The State of the Nation: Defending Critical Infrastructure, on the security of the UK’s key infrastructure networks. The report pulls no punches, stating that “without reform, the UK is in danger of not having the infrastructure it needs to operate.” Continue reading
REUTERS | Jitendra Prakash
June 26, 2009
Adjudication, cash flow and insolvency
Cash flow is so often called the “life blood” of the construction industry and we are all familiar with a party’s right to adjudicate “at any time” to keep the cash flowing, or so the theory goes. Continue reading
REUTERS | Toby Melville
June 24, 2009
Construction is an expensive business
The song says “When the going gets tough, the tough get going“. In the construction industry, this means “When the going gets tough, the tough get suing”. There is no doubt that things are tough at present. Continue reading
REUTERS | Yuriko Nakao
June 19, 2009
Do you have a construction contract?
“Do you have a construction contract?” Unsurprisingly, this often-asked question is the starting point for deciding whether a party has a right to refer a dispute to adjudication.
If one party is a residential occupier, there can only be an adjudication if the parties have a contractual right to refer a dispute to adjudication. There can only be a contractual right to refer if there is a contract. Continue reading
REUTERS | Jose Miguel Gomez
June 17, 2009
Passing a settlement along the contractual chain
In the recent case of Siemens Building Technologies FE Limited v Supershield Ltd, the TCC considered the circumstances in which a party may settle a claim against it and recoup the amount of that settlement from another party.
This is a common scenario in construction and engineering disputes, which routinely involve a large number of parties, some of whom are “stuck in the middle”, defending claims whilst at the same time seeking to pass on liability to others further down the contractual chain. Continue reading
REUTERS | Aly Song
June 16, 2009
Who, or why, or which, or what, is ProCure21+?
ProCure21 is the procurement method for publicly funded NHS schemes (as opposed to schemes that use private funding, such as PFI and LIFT). As we highlighted in an update last week, ProCure21 will soon be replaced by ProCure21+.
So what is Procure21+ and how will it differ from the existing regime?
REUTERS | Jason Lee
June 15, 2009
Mediators, adjudicators and confidentiality
Parties usually think of mediation and think of a confidential, without prejudice process. They are right to do so. Rarely is either party likely to want to look behind the settlement agreement reached during a mediation. The recent case of Farm Assist Limited v The Secretary of State for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs may be unusual in that regard. Continue reading
REUTERS | Issei Kato
PLC Construction has introduced a new regular feature: “Ask the Team”. This will be based on questions you have asked. We edit the questions and answers, where appropriate, to maintain anonymity.
Our first Ask the Team suggests an answer to the question “who is a building owner under the Party Walls etc Act 1996?”
